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“‘the senator went on, now and then extending 
HIS ARMS appealingly’” (See page lOj) 


@ @ 


‘Ike MERRYMAKERS 
IN CHICAGO 

AND THEIR ^ADVENTURES IN 
THAT GREAT CITY 


By' HERSCHEL WILLIAMS 

»1 

Author of “The Merrymakers in New York” 


Illustrated br FRANK T. MERRILL 



THE PAGE COMPANY 

BOSTON ® cTMDCCCCXX 



Copyright, ig20, by 
The Page Company 

All rights reserved 


First Impression, July, 1920 


THE COLONIAL PRESS 
C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. 


©CI.A597052 


De&(catcD 

to 

HIS COUSIN 

SDelc place 


BY THE AUTHOR 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I Concerning Chicago i 

II At the White City 36 

III Carl Helps Ned 69 

IV A Busy Day for Aunt Esther . . .111 

V At the Big Department Stores . . . 1^9 

VI In Halsted Street .181 

VII An Unexpected Family Reunion . . 207 

VIII Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy .... 238 

IX Marje's Caller 271 

X The Compromise that Ended Happily . 298 







LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


*‘‘The Senator went on, now and then ex- 
tending HIS ARMS APPEALINGLY ’ (See 
page loj) .... Frontispiece 
“ He gazed with the same sort of fascina- 
tion THAT SEEMED TO BE CONSUMING ReX ’’ 64 

“ ‘ There, Teddy — snap her!’” ... 87 

“ * So YOU WANT TO KNOW SOME OF MY 

SECRETS?’” ...... 166 

“'You’re a nice one — you are!’ she 

RAILED ” ...... 200 

“ Sitting by a small table was the Ogre 

OF Topsy-Turvy” ..... 264 


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THE MERRYMAKERS 
IN CHICAGO 


CHAPTER I 

CONCERNING CHICAGO 

“ Chicago is a wonder ! It’s a great, throbbing 
dynamo with a merry-go-round attachment ! ” 

These and other extravagant remarks Carl Merry- 
maker kept hurling over the telephone at his older 
brother Ned, who was perspiring in a stuffy booth 
at the Coliseum where he had just begun to re- 
port a Republican Convention for a New York 
newspaper. On this occasion Carl had a great deal 
to say, for the reason that he had not talked to 
Ned since January, and it was now past the middle 
of a very warm June. Indeed, the boy was in 
such ecstasy that he called Chicago a ‘‘ pippin ” 
and many other misleading names intended to be 
complimentary. 

“ For mercy sake, Carl, let me have a chance 
to speak a word — I can’t wait another minute,” 

1 


2 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

interrupted Marjorie, his younger sister. She al- 
most forced the receiver from his hands and lifted 
a rosy smiling face to the transmitter. ‘‘ Hello, 
Ned dear — this is Marje — 

But what Marje said would have tried the speed 
and the patience of the ablest court stenographer. 
She talked so rapidly and ran her words together 
to such an extent, Ned could get little from her 
conversation aside from the assurance that it was 
brimming over with the most sisterly intentions. 
Then Jean and Rex had to talk, after which fol- 
lowed a chorus of bright sayings and hilarious 
peals of laughter, such as four youngsters are sure 
to create when they all insist upon talking by tele- 
phone at the same time. Small wonder it was that 
Aunt Esther Fortune had to take another headache 
tablet, and stretch herself wearily upon the chaise- 
longue in the drawing-room ; or that she sighed and 
moaned ! She was not accustomed to children, and 
she hated noise. 

After this long and spirited conversation by wire, 
the four Merrymakers hurried back to their bed- 
rooms; they wanted to unpack their valises and to 
make sure that they themselves were in the pink of 
condition. For Brother Ned was coming out on 
the next Indiana Avenue car; and Brother Ned 


Concerning Chicago 3 

was very fastidious when it came to passing upon 
the appearances of his younger brothers and sis- 
ters, especially when they were away visiting. 

All were waiting eagerly in the reception hall 
when Ned reached their Aunt Esther’s apartment. 
They could tell by the way he rang the bell that 
he was frantic to get inside and consume the entire 
quartet of them in one crushing embrace. When 
the maid opened the door, the air was rent with 
shrill cries of welcome; though it must be confessed 
that Aunt Esther Fortune — now sitting erect on 
the couch by the window — was not yet sufficiently 
trained to distinguish between sounds that were joy- 
ous and those positively disagreeable. Notwith- 
standing that she lived in the noisiest city in the 
world, she spent most of her time in its quietest 
corners. She appeared pale and ill at ease as she 
sat there in a street dress that looked black and 
uncomfortable for such a warm day. Furthermore, 
she was shuddering at these emotional greetings; 
they were so much opposed to anything included 
in her long widowhood of ten years — what with 
Carl frantically shaking Ned’s hand as very excit- 
able foreigners do; Marje with her arms about 
Ned’s neck; Jean crumpled up in a hoydenish pos- 
ture under his arm, as she wildly kissed his other 


4 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

hand; and young Rex clinging sturdily to his big 
brother’s legs — simply because he could find no 
more affectionate attitude to assume while waiting 
his turn to be greeted. Then — strange to say — 
Aunt Esther Fortune found herself laughing! It 
was probably the first time she had laughed out 
loud since her husband’s demise. 

“ I’m sure I never received such a warm greeting 
in all my life,” she said between chuckles. But 
no one paid any heed to her statement; they were 
all too busily occupied in renewing acquaintance after 
a long separation of nearly six months. There was 
so much to talk about — so many explanations to 
make. For one thing, Marje had to tell why her 
older sister, Bess, could not come along with them ; 
and Carl had to take the sincerity from her apolo- 
gies by explaining to Ned that the hot weather was 
not so much to blame as that young Dr. Lane, who 
had been keeping company with Bess till it was 
beginning to look as if they should have a wedding 
in the family before long. Then Jean had to make 
a plea for a tear or two, when in the same breath 
with her demonstrative greeting to her big brother, 
she announced that old Spot-light, the faith fullest 
cat that ever lived, had been run over by a wheel- 
barrow filled with bricks, and never had the satis fac- 


Concerning Chicago 5 

tion of knowing what it was that had struck her. 
And Rex continued to whoop and halloo, and to 
beguile Ned into believing that he, the head of the 
Merrymaker family, was the greatest hero of mod- 
ern times. Whatever it was they said, it proved to 
be very interesting conversation to all concerned — 
so engrossing indeed that Aunt Esther began to 
suspect she was no more than a black phantom 
standing in the way of their healthy young lives. 
She sighed again and passed an interval of jealousy 
by pulling down the blinds to keep the late after- 
noon sun from fading her oriental rug. 

“ I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you at the station,” 
Ned was trying to say above the din. He had 
come into the drawing-room and was sitting on the 
long couch, with Jean and Rex on his lap, and Carl 
and Marje on either side of him — a little too close 
for hot weather, but worlds apart should one con- 
sider how much they wanted to make of the few 
short days they were to be together. I arrived in 
Chicago on the thirteenth,” he continued. “ Came 
on a fast express. I had a great deal of preliminary 
work to do before the Convention commenced. 
You know. I’m one of the night city-editors now; 
but the managing editor thought it would be a good 
thing for me to have a change, so he sent me to 


6 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

cover the assignment. And Jack Gore came along 
with me.” 

“ Fd like to see him! How is old Jack? Is he 
as funny as ever?” came from the others in the 
same breath. Evidently that queer name awak- 
ened happy recollections, for they all laughed 
again. 

“ Just as he was when you saw him in New York 
last Christmas,” assured Ned. “ You'll see him 
soon. This Convention is a terrible crush, and it’s 
hotter than Jamaica ginger. It seems that all the 
big politicians in the world are stuffed into that 
Coliseum — and it’s a regular Bedlam. Jack and 
I have to work like convicts; yet we’ve arranged it 
so that one or the other of us can be with you most 
of the time. But children, wasn’t it splendid of 
Aunt Esther to pay your way to Chicago — so you 
could see me once more? ” 

Ned’s closing remark had a magic effect upon 
the youngsters. As if in response to a command, 
they all began to repeat their thanks as they drew 
their aunt into the family circle and seated her on 
the couch close to Ned.' 

This act of courtesy had a pleasant effect upon 
Mrs. Fortune, also; for she smiled wanly and said 
in an embarrassed manner : I’ve done nothing 


Concerning Chicago 7 

to call forth your thanks, children. Fve been a 
very selfish woman — all wrapped up in myself for 
so many years. But when my poor husband 
died — 

“ Please don’t speak of it again,” pleaded Ned, 
not wishing at this happy moment to remind his 
orphaned brothers and sisters that there was such, 
a thing as death. 

‘‘ No — I’m not going to speak of that.” Mrs. 
Fortune sat more erect, and forced a smile that to 
the Merrymakers was no more than a tiny flicker. 
Though she was pale and her dark hair faintly 
streaked with white, she was beautiful when she 
looked pleasant; and the girls thought her garments 
elegant and most becoming. Yet they could not 
understand why she should wear black, without a 
solitary ornament or a bit of color to relieve the 
sight of those who had been compelled to gaze upon 
her during the ten long years of her rather young 
wid^Twhood. I can hardly realize that you are 
Blanche’s children,” she went on plaintively. “ I 
neglected Blanche, I suppose — but I didn’t mean 
to. I surely felt very sad when I heard of her 
death. My husband and I were in Paris at the 
time — and I wasn’t very strong.” 

“ I never knew we had an Aunt Esther till you 


8 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

telegraphed us the money/’ interrupted Rex with 
childish honesty. 

“ Of course not, dear. None of you younger 
children had ever seen me. In fact, Ned and Bessie 
were little tots when I visited your home the last 
time.” Mrs. Fortune colored when she saw the 
rather reproachful look in Marje’s brown eyes. 

“ I can’t imagine two sisters being apart for so 
many years,” dared Jean. 

“ Wait till you grow up,” suggested Mrs. For- 
tune. ‘‘ Life does such amazing things to families 
— it separates and changes them. Sometimes so 
many interests crowd in, they almost forget about 
one another. We always have to be making room 
for strangers and adapting ourselves to new condi- 
tions. I was so devoted to my husband, and we 
traveled a great deal — ” 

‘‘ But how did you happen to want us to visit 
you?” asked Carl. He was not accustomed to 
women who speak in sad voices — and about noth- 
ing in particular save their happier past. Fortu- 
nately, he was linked with those great souls who 
bear their sufferings and disappointments bravely 
for the sake of others, and make the best of what- 
ever the present brings. 

‘‘It was this way,” went on Mrs. Fortune, bright- 


Concerning Chicago 9 

ening a little. “ A few nights ago, your brother 
Ned called to see me. He had come to Chicago 
to report the great Convention. I could hardly 
believe my eyes when he told me who he was. 
There he stood — a polite and manly young fellow 
of twenty-three, and so much like his mother’s peo- 
ple. Before I could realize it, he was calling me 
Aunt Esther and making himself at home. He was 
a godsend to me. I’ve lived alone so long — only 
a few friends and amusements, and none of them 
ever satisfied me. When he told me how you had 
visited him in New York during the Christmas 
holidays — and what a grand time you had together, 
I made up my mind I wouldn’t take a trip to 
Mackinac this summer ; but send you the money, to 
come to Chicago, so you could be with him as 
long as possible. What is more, I’m going to see 
that you like Chicago as well as you did New York; 
for the Garden City is the loveliest place in the 
world to one who understands.” 

It was kind of you,” gratefully declared Marje, 
having decided that her aunt had made handsome 
atonement for the way she had neglected them in 
the past. The others added words of appreciation 
— each in his own way — leaving Mrs. Fortune 
again embarrassed. Apparently she was not ac- 


10 The Merry.makers in Chicago 

customed to hearing such heart-felt expressions of 
gratitude, and was thinking they might have been 
prompted by sentiment. 

Indeed it was noble of you,” added Ned with 
emphasis. There was nothing I wanted more than 
to see my chicks again. You see. I’ve been father 
to them so long; yet I’ve always had to be separated 
from them. I have to work to keep them com- 
fortable — and I love that; but I hate the long 
waits between visits. Some day I hope to have 
them with me in New York all the time. We shall 
have a flat of our own — ” 

“ With a radiator that bubbles, and a door-bell 
you don’t have to pull at,” put in Rex, from his 
perch on the arm of the couch. 

“Yes — but it will be a very modest little place,” 
assured Ned as he gazed over the beautiful drawing- 
room of his aunt. This apartment was a feast to 
the eye, with its costly rugs and upholstery of 
apple-green velvet, its cream-lace curtains and rose- 
colored draperies ; but most attractive of all was 
the round bay-window — much like au opera-box; 
it commanded a splendid view of Grand Boulevard, 
which was divided into two avenues by a long strip 
of green park-way with rows of sturdy trees ex- 
tending farther than the eye could reach. 


Concerning Chicago 11 

“ I don’t believe luxuries add to one’s real happi- 
ness,” said Mrs. Fortune, puckering her brow as 
if she were assailed by some uncanny thought that 
never before had entered her mind. “ I’ve been 
comfortable for so long — just plain comfortable; 
and I don’t believe it’s good for the health.” At 
this strange remark, the youngsters all stared at her 
curiously, but listened all the more respectfully as 
she went on: ‘‘I’ve needed more people around 
me — more things to be interested in, even though 
once in a while I might find somebody whose views 
were contrary to my own.” 

“ I’m sure our little family will keep you busy for 
a while,” laughed Ned. “ They all have their own 
opinions, and Bess says they can make more noise 
than any other family in Johnstown; yet they man- 
age to enjoy life. The week will fly away before 
you realize it. Aunt Esther.” 

“ I wish the Convention would last longer,” said 
Mrs. Fortune wistfully. “ Don’t you think you 
could all stay over a few days after it closes, Ned? 
It takes more than a week to get the feeblest idea 
of Chicago, or to get acquainted with a peculiar 
aunt.” 

“ No; my duties compel me to get back to New 
York within a day or two after the Convention 


12 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

doses,” Ned assured her. ‘‘ Perhaps the children 
can stay a while longer — ” 

We’ll not stay an hour after you leave,” said 
Marje firmly. “ We’ll all go back with you as far 
as Johnstown. Then Bess will meet you there at 
the train and have a little visit with you before 
you go on to New York.” 

“ Don’t talk about the home-going yet,” begged 
Mrs. Fortune, who by this time was beginning to 
enjoy the coziness of having youngsters around her. 
“ Think of me all alone in this great apartment, 
with nobody to keep me company but Cora, my new 
maid — a girl that just came to me this morning; 
and I don’t know a thing about her. But I promise 
to make up for the way I’ve neglected you; I’m 
going to be interested in somebody besides myself. 
How old are you, Carl? ” 

“ Fifteen — quite a little past,” replied Carl with 
dignity. “ I think I look younger — ” 

And his voice is changing,” put in Jean with 
a tantalizing snicker. 

‘‘ Never mind that,” protested Carl, vexed at his 
sister’s audacity in pointing out such a serious de- 
fect in his manhood. 

‘‘ And you are just a year younger than ' Carl 
— aren’t you, Marjorie?” continued Mrs. Fortune, 


Concerning Chicago 13 

turning her attention to the elder of the two 
girls, who still wore her hair in heavy braids, 
and — though the mother of the family during 
Bess’s absence — was very girlish in appear- 
ance. 

Yes,” admitted Marje. I’m a Freshman in 
the high school, and Carl is a Sophomore. I’m 
slow in Mathematics, but I help Carl with his 
Latin — ” 

'' Right you are,” retorted Carl. ‘‘ She couldn’t 
do a thing with Algebra if it wasn’t for me. She 
wouldn’t know an unknown quantity if she found 
it in her soup. But she’s glib enough of the tongue 
when it comes to languages — ” 

“ There seems to be considerable class spirit in 
our family,” remarked Mrs. Fortune, in a manner 
indicating that she was pleased at the discovery. 
She twitched one of Marje’s heavy braids and looked 
at Carl with new mischief in her eyes. 

Bess and I always tried to rival each other, 
too,” said Ned, smiling in recollection of those en- 
deared days before he had to leave school to help 
support a family. Bess actually couldn’t remem- 
ber anything about Geometry except that ^ straight 
line is the shortest distance between two points 
— and half the time she forgot that. Yet she was 


14 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

a great help to me in my English Composition. 
How I hated it! I never could get up a decent 
essay.” 

“ One never knows how a child is going to de- 
velop,” said Mrs. Fortune, gazing at him proudly. 
“ Now you earn your living by making use of the 
English Composition you used to hate. And how 
old is Jean? ” 

‘‘ Ten,” promptly replied Jean. I’ll be eleven 
in October. I’m rather small, like Bess.” 

Ned noted that Mrs. Fortune’s gaze softened still 
more as it rested upon Jean. It was plain to him 
that his aunt — like everybody else — was getting 
ready to spoil Jean completely, simply for the reason 
that she was the beauty of the family, with her 
dark curls and blue eyes, her delicate complexion 
and clear-cut features. 

I’m going to be either an actress or a trained 
nurse,” volunteered Jean, though her aunt had no 
intention of inquiring about her future vocation; 
in truth, the attractive little girl reminded her of a 
very lovely doll that never should know the meaning 
of work. 

You told me you wanted to be a lady-police- 
man,” reminded Rex. But I don’t believe you’d 
be any good at it — you’re too afraid. Marje 


Concerning Chicago 15 

would be a better one; she’s fatter and knows how 
to boss.” 

No one save Aunt Esther smiled at this rather 
personal remark; they had long banded together 
to discourage what they termed the “ smartness ” 
of this youthful prodigy. Jean, nevertheless, 
thought an explanation necessary, inasmuch as Mrs. 
Fortune was still comparatively strange to them. 

I’ll never be big enough to make an arrest,” she 
said, nor to do very heavy work for a sick person. 
I’m going to be small, like Bess. Why, Aunt 
Esther, she’s nineteen and only weighs a hundred ! ” 
Yet she can do more work than a woman twice 
her size,” boasted Carl. She’s managed to bring 
us all up — and that’s no easy task. You can’t 
judge of a woman’s ability by her size.” 

“ She must be a remarkable girl,” endorsed his 
aunt. “ I shouldn’t know Bessie if I should see her 
— it’s a shame ! I’ve never done a thing for her 
except to send her a Christmas card now and then, 
and a telegram when my dear husband died. What 
a selfish world mine has been ! ” 

‘‘ But Bess thinks a great deal of you,” declared 
the kind-hearted Jean, who had never nursed a 
grudge against anybody, possibly for the reason that 
the world had always been so kind to her. “ I’ve 


16 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

heard her say several times that you were Mother’s 
favorite sister.” 

‘‘ How nice of her ! ” Mrs. Fortune was lost in 
grateful revery for a few moments, then she said 
suddenly: Yes, I believe I was. Blanche was a 

remarkable woman — sweet and gentle without 
being too tame. I imagine Bess must be like her. 
Now Rex, it’s your turn. How old are you? ” 

‘‘ Eight — goin’ on nine,” sang out the little fel- 
low from his perch. “ I’m goin’ to be a preacher, 
like Mr. Rhodes, or a grocer, like Mr. Crane.” 

Oh, he doesn’t know what he’s going to be,” 
sputtered Jean with a derisive laugh. “ He 
wouldn’t make a good preacher, because his temper 
is too quick; and he wouldn’t make a good grocer, 
because he’d eat everything there was to sell.” 

Mrs. Fortune laughed, with the delicacy that char- 
acterized everything she did. In truth, she herself 
was delicately pretty, even to the tips of her polished 
nails. So becoming was her laugh, the children 
were all possessed with the desire to keep her at it 
indefinitely; that was why they continued to make 
amusing remarks till her spirits were elevated far 
beyond any thought of herself. She was finding 
out, for the first time, that twentieth century chil- 
dren are very much like their elders. 


Concerning Chicago 17 

‘‘ Did you find my family at the station to-day 
without any trouble, Aunt Esther? ” inquired Ned. 

‘‘ Yes, and I knew them at sight,’’ was his aunt’s 
pleased reply. ‘‘ They were all standing together 
in a huddle when I went up and introduced myself. 
Just think of a woman having to introduce herself 
to her nieces and nephews ! ” 

‘‘ I knew it was Aunt Esther before she 
spoke,” said Marje. ‘‘ We have an old photo- 
graph of her at home — one taken when she was a 
girl.” 

‘‘ And she brought us home in a splendid motor- 
car,” raved Jean. 

But while they were taking turns in declaring 
their loyalty to Aunt Esther and Chicago in general, 
the bell rang, and soon Cora had ushered into their 
midst a boy of perhaps sixteen, tall and slender; 
he had dark eyes and a face slightly freckled and 
sun-burnt. Evidently he was a lad fond of having 
a good time out-of-doors. Mrs. I'ortune rose to 
greet him. 

“ It was so nice of you to be prompt,” she said 
as she turned to face her expectant nephews and 
nieces. “ I invited Mr. Gath Singleton to come 
over and meet you, children. He’s a Chicago boy 
— born and bred on this good old prairie soil ; he’s 


18 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

promised to visit you often. You see, because of 
my bothersome headaches, Tm likely to be laid up 
a part of the time.’’ 

Then she introduced the young stranger to each 
of her guests separately. Carl, with the shrewd 
eyes of a boy sizing up the points of a lad his own 
age, thought he should like Gath Singleton ; for the 
stranger did not seem to be a ‘‘ smarty,” nor did 
he put on airs. 

“ I appreciate your courtesy, Mr. Singleton,” said 
Ned graciously as he shook hands with the boy. ‘‘ I 
have to be at the big Convention most of the time, 
yet I want my family to see Chicago with some- 
body that is familiar with it.” 

“ You’re the first Chicago boy I ever saw,” ad- 
mitted Rex as he continued staring at Gath Single- 
ton with eyes mirroring both surprise and admira- 
tion. 

“ I suppose you’re amazed because I’m not an 
Indian,” laughed the newcomer. ‘‘ You Eastern 
people have such funny ideas about the West. I 
suppose you expected to find us running around on 
the streets, all wearing blankets and killing deer 
with bows and arrows — ” 

“ Oh, that would be splendid ! ” cried the romantic 
Jean, clapping her hands at the mere thought of such 


Concerning Chicago 19 

a succession of lovely thrills. ‘‘ I just love those 
movie-pictures about the West.’’ 

But you’ll find Chicago highly civilized, Jean 
dear,” put in Mrs. Fortune. ‘‘ It is truly an excit- 
ing city — but not in the Avay you expect. I hope 
you’re not disappointed.” 

No, I’m not disappointed,” declared Jean. 
‘‘ Chicago is scarey enough without having Indians. 
I was frightened when we pulled into the big sta- 
tion to-day. It seemed so big — and there were 
such terrible roars and clatterings. It made Pitts- 
burgh seem like a small town on Sunday.” 

“And such clouds of dust!” cried Marje. 
“ There were little pieces of coal flying around 
everywhere — just like Pittsburgh, only there was 
more of it — and it kept perching on people’s noses 
and getting into their eyes. Everything seemed 
charged with some strange force, something like 
electricity — and everybody was rushing around and 
not paying attention to anybody else. It would be 
terrible to get lost in Chicago.” 

“ It’s a busy place, to be sure,” said young Single- 
ton with the town pride that ever adorns one born 
in the Garden City. Seated in an easy chair and 
facing the group, he continued with growing em- 
phasis : “ Chicago is the big stock and grain cen- 


20 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ter of the world. Everybody has to hustle; every- 
body is supposed to work — have something impor- 
tant to do. Why, if a fellow stopped in the middle 
of the street to visit a friend — as Eve seen ’em 
do in Boston — the policeman would whack ’em with 
their billies and tell ’em to move on; they’d prob- 
ably arrest ’em. And if we people didn’t move 
fast, we’d never get anywhere. Don’t you realize 
that our city has a water front on Lake Michigan 
extending over thirty miles? When I leave my 
home on the South Side, to go to a party on the 
West or the North Side — why, the party would 
be over before I got there, if I didn’t scramble as 
hard as I could ! None of you people will be so slow 
after you’ve been here a few days ; you’ll hurry like 
the rest of us. And you’ll learn to like the coal- 
dust. It seems to get into the blood — and it in- 
spires us to do great things. It makes us want 
to fly. It — it makes us feel that we want to do 
more than our share to keep this big city one of 
the world’s greatest commercial centers.” 

Mrs. Fortune smiled somewhat dubiously, yet 
in approval of the boy’s zest. Though she loved 
Chicago, the coal-dust had no such moral effect 
upon her. “ I believe Gath is honest in what he 
is saying,” she declared. “I’ve lived here many 


21 


Concerning Chicago 

years — and, somehow or other, I can’t stay away 
long, though Tve tried to live in Paris. I believe, 
after all, the charm of any place is the people one 
meets. That’s why I like Chicago, I suppose. The 
poor giantess really does seem rather soiled and 
boisterous; but that’s because she has been so busy 
growing, she’s only beginning to beautify herself. 
Yet it’s marvelous how fair she is, in spite of her 
grime, and what an art stronghold she is making 
herself. Some day when her present plans have 
been carried out, she’ll lift her head and be adored 
as the City Beautiful.” 

‘‘ Aunt Esther is like the other Chicagoans — • 
always blowing about the place,” laughed Ned. 
“No wonder they call this the Windy City. Yet 
I believe I like the Chicago way of standing up 
for its own shrines and citadels; it seems to be a 
loyal sort of place.” 

“ But do all the girls here have big feet? ” Jean 
in all earnestness had asked this question of Gath 
Singleton for enlightenment on a subject that ap- 
pealed to her far more than his subsequent talk 
about the Board of Trade and other famous haunts. 

“Of course not,” retorted Gath, blushing con- 
siderably. “ What a funny question to ask ! Why 
should their feet be bigger here than if they lived 


22 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

somewhere else? I think that’s another of those 
St. Louis yarns.” 

“Jean didn’t mean to be flippant,” apologized 
Ned much amused. “ Her question was honest, but 
it didn’t fit into the right place.” 

“ My great-grandfather left some very interest- 
ing documents,” Gath resumed, after he had en- 
tirely recovered from Jean’s question. “ He was 
one of the first white children born here — so I’m 
sure they must be accurate. In his day, no one 
ever dreamed that Chicago would turn out to be the 
second largest American city — and probably, ten 
years from now, be the greatest city in the world — ” 

All the others laughed again; for Gath had lost 
control of himself in the warmth of his enthusiasm. 
But the Merrymakers were inclined to be lenient 
with him; they adored loyalty, even at the expense 
of discretion. 

“ Once upon a time,” persisted Gath, “ this 
stretch of flat land on which the city stands was a 
green prairie dotted with flowers. And there 
were Indians and wolves and bears — ” 

“ Wild ones? ” queried Rex, pricking up his ears. 

“ Wild as could be,” assured Gath, encouraged 
by the child’s interest. “ Everything in those days 
was wild — the animals, the roses, the strawberries. 


Concerning Chicago 23 

and even the onions. In 1796, the first settler with 
a Christian name came to this prairie and built a 
rude hut near the heart of the present city. He 
was a colored man named Baptiste au Sable, and 
there seems to have been a great many ways of 
spelling his name. He finally sold his hut to a 
Frenchman named Le Mai. Then John Kinzie, an 
agent for the great American Fur Company founded 
by the Astors, bought the place and lived there 
many years. In front of the house was a yard 
surrounded by a low fence; four tall trees stood 
in a row behind the fence. Kinzie was a good 
citizen — as civilized as any of the Pilgrim 
Fathers — 

“ But what about the colored man — did the In- 
dians get his scalp ? asked Rex, eager for more 
thrills. 

“ I don’t know ; I think he must have died. But 
that wouldn’t make any difference; he hadn’t any- 
thing to do with the history of Chicago — he was 
just an Eastern transient, I suppose. At that time 
there wasn’t any town here. All this territory was 
a part of Indiana, and Vincennes was the seat of 
government. Then in 1804 Fort Dearborn was 
erected, and a little village sprang up surrounding 
it. Whenever an Indian raid took place, the people 


24 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

fled to the fort. Grandfather said the pioneers 
of this city wrote their history in blood; but they 
were plucky, and such good fighters nothing could 
drive them away. Twenty-five years later, the town 
had a population of four thousand; most of the old 
families were French.” 

“ Where did Chicago get its name?” asked Carl 
when Gath paused to recall other data. 

“ There are differences of opinion as to that,” 
Gath said with a puzzled countenance and a show of 
reluctance. ‘‘ Some say the name comes from the 
Indian word meaning ‘ wild onion ’ ; but my family 
insists that it comes from the beautiful Indian word 
‘ checaque,’ meaning ‘ thunder ’ — ” 

“ That sounds more like it,” bantered Ned. 
‘‘ Chicago, thy name is Thunder ! ” 

“ But others say the name means ‘ the voice of 
the great Manitou,^ which I think is more appro- 
priate,” went on Gath. 

“ Long live Manitou and his powerful voice ! ” 
cried Mrs. Fortune. ‘‘ Chicago speaks with the 
voice of thunder, and her motto is ‘ I Will ’ ! She 
is likely to dot the map as long as the world exists.” 

“ She’s more likely to swallow the map if she 
keeps on growing so fast,” said Gath with pardon- 
able pride. ” Look at her now with nearly three 


Concerning Chicago 


25 


million inhabitants. See her streaking up the North 
Shore into Wisconsin, and down into Indiana. 
There’s no limit to her size.” 

The young Merrymakers, who by this time were 
inclined to think Gath’s loyalty to his native city 
highly laudable, were beginning to ply him with 
other questions when he hurried on with his narra- 
tive : ‘‘No city has had a more unfavorable be- 
ginning, nor grown so rapidly. You’ll be surprised 
when you see our splendid hotels, though the first 
tavern was built here as late as 1829. A man named 
Caldwell was the proprietor, and his guests could 
get three square meals a day and a room for only a 
dollar. Horses were boarded in the stable — and 
they had all the hay and grain they wanted for 
twenty-five cents a night.” 

“ And did the folks finally chase all the wolves 
and Indians away?” inquired Rex, more interested 
in the remote days when Chicago was wild and 
woolly. 

“Yes — and they had a great deal of fun with 
them at the last. My great-grandfather said the 
first settlers were capital wolf hunters. At these 
hunts they would chase the animals out on the ice 
bordering the lake, and the people would stand on 
the shore and look on.” 


26 The 31 err y makers in Chicago 

But Gath neglected to state what disposition was 
made of the wolves after they were thus put on ice. 
In his impulsive and rather jerky fashion he went 
on to explain how Chicago began to grow so rapidly 
that all the remaining Indians and wolves were glad 
to seek homes elsewhere. 

Gath had to write an essay on Chicago just 
before school closed,’’ explained Mrs. Fortune; “so 
it’s easy for him to remember most of the facts. 
He also has considerable information, though I dare 
say some of it might be disputed. Yet I’m sure 
his great-grandfather ought to have known as much 
about Chicago as some others did.” 

“ I’ve proven most of his records in the Chicago 
Historical Library and two of the public libraries,” 
said Gath, his tongue fairly racing with his mind as 
he continued with superb faith in his great-grand- 
father’s chronicles: “The first school-master was 
John Watkins; the first school that might be called 
public was opened in a stable in 1832. It was only 
twelve feet square, and its benches and desks were 
nothing more than store-boxes. At that time there 
were only thirty children in the town — most of 
them Indians — and only a few of them old enough 
to go to school. Before that time, Mrs. Stephen 
Forbes had a tiny private school — ” 


Concerning Chicago 27 

“ So the first school-teacher in Chicago was a 
woman/' announced Marje, much elated. 

‘‘Yes — so the records say/' admitted Gath. 
“ And the first Sunday-school teacher was named 
Carpentier. The first minister to arrive here was 
a Methodist named Walker. A month later, a 
Presbyterian minister named Parker settled here. 
The Methodists had the first library, and a man 
named Wright had charge of it. He used to move 
the library from place to place in a silk handkerchief 
— later, he got a basket — but you'll change your 
laugh when you all see the splendid libraries we 
have to-day, with acres and acres of floor space, 
and tons and tons of books." 

“ Do you know anything about the first news- 
paper published here?" queried Ned, think- 
ing he had cornered the well-posted Chicagoan. 
“ You see. Pm a journalist, and Pve always 
heard that your newspapers are unusually pro- 
gressive." 

“ The first one was called The Chicago Daily 
American, published in 1839 — though I think they 
changed the name afterwards," spoke Gath with 
alacrity. “ It had a hard time of it at first ; on the 
first page of the first issue was printed this mes- 
sage : ‘ We now launch our humble bark on the 


28 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

great ocean of this world, with plenty of sheet, but 
with no certainty of sale/ ” 

Rather clever,” laughed Ned, seeing the point. 
“ It seems that many similar barks have been 
launched in this city since that time.” 

I think most historians agree that the first white 
child born here was Ellen M. Kinzie; and her mar- 
riage to Dr. Alexander Wolcott was the first one; 
I guess they had a very handsome wedding for 
those days.” 

Thus Gath went on, gaining confidence as he 
noted the interest gleaming in the eyes of the others. 
With considerable eloquence, for a boy of sixteen, 
he told of the Great Fire of 1871 — a fire that had 
destroyed many lives and millions of dollars worth 
of property. Then he told of the modern Chicago, 
built upon the smoking embers of the old city; of 
her growing influence as an art and a commercial 
center, her massive public buildings resting upon 
floating foundations, her schools and universities, 
her emporiums of fashion, her places of amusement, 
and her beautiful suburbs; likewise, he spent some 
time describing her immense freight tunnel under- 
lying the surface and relieving the city of the bulk 
of her freight traffic. Nor did the Merrymakers 
blame him for swelling his sails to their utmost. 


29 


Concerning Chicago 

On the other hand, they adrpired him for his devo- 
tion to his native town. They marveled, neverthe- 
less, that he should neglect to mention the stock- 
yards and the packing-plants; for, like many other 
outsiders, they had imagined that this very impor- 
tant chain of industries formed the center of the 
city — just as Fort Dearborn formerly had — and 
that all the other attractions were secondary. 

“ I’m sorry I have to leave now,” Ned finally 
said as he rose and looked at his watch. “ Fd like 
to hear Mr. Gath Singleton go on for another hour; 
but I have to hurry back to my preliminaries that 
mark the beginning of the Convention. Jack Gore 
will think something has happened to me.” 

Can’t you come back to dinner?” asked Mrs. 
Fortune. ‘‘ Please don’t stay down town unless it’s 
necessary; you know, my house is always open to 
you.” 

Ned thankfully agreed to return for dinner, 
whereupon Mrs. Fortune went out to the kitchen 
to see how her new maid was progressing; though 
if there were anything she hated, it was the occa- 
sional pilgrimages she had to make to that over- 
heated region during the process of breaking in a 
green servant. 

I think ril go home,” announced Gath Single- 


30 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ton, rising to make a hasty exit. ‘‘ I live out on 
Drexel Boulevard, and I have to get back early. 
Father and Mother are getting ready to go up to 
Green Bay for several weeks, and I must help them 
pack; I’ll try to see you all to-morrow. I hope 
you don’t think I’m a public speaker; really, your 
aunt was to blame for getting me to tell you a few 
things about Chicago.” 

The Merrymakers again assured him that his talk 
had been most interesting, and that none of them 
was base enough to imagine for one minute that 
he had ever done any professional speaking. When 
he had gone, they agreed that they liked him ex- 
ceedingly well, and the girls wished he had two 
sisters much like himself and near their own ages. 

I hope you’ll all be very considerate of Aunt 
Esther,” Ned admonished as he stood dusting his 
straw hat. “ When I made my first call on her — 
just a day or two ago — she was sitting here alone 
in the dusk; she was grieving because she had no- 
body to take an interest in. It didn’t take me long 
to hint that all she needed to do was to send you 
a telegram, and before she knew it the house would 
be alive with youngsters. I didn’t mean for her 
to wire the money; but she was determined to do 
it. Now let’s all show how grateful we can be for 


Concerning Chicago 31 

such an unusual act of courtesy. Remember, if she 
were actually selfish, she would have preferred to 
take a trip to Mackinac where it’s cool and pleas- 
ant.” 

'‘Dear Aunt Esther!” said Marje sympathet- 
ically. " She must have had a great deal of trouble ; 
perhaps we can help her bear it. Think of having 
to depend on a cook all these years! I’d much 
rather be one of a big family, and have to slave 
most of the time to keep things going.” 

Though Ned was only going down to the Coli- 
seum — a short distance away — and would be back 
that evening, he was so much delighted at once 
more being with his family, he kissed the girls 
affectionately and shook the hands of his brothers 
as if he were going forth on a long journey. More- 
over, the others all stood in the bay-window and 
waved at him, as far as they could see him ; nor was 
he ashamed to wave back and smile his broadest, 
despite the warm weather and the heavy work ahead 
of him. 

But hardly had he disappeared from sight when 
Mrs. Fortune came back into the drawing-room. 
She was pale and nervous, though she smiled weakly 
as she sat down in the easiest chair. 

" What’s the matter? ” cried Marje, springing to 


32 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

her side. “ Are you ill — or is it the hot weather? 
Shan’t I do something for you ? 

‘‘ No, dear,” was the faint reply. “ The very 
worst has happened to me again — just as I ex- 
pected.” 

The Merrymakers looked at her in alarm. Surely 
the worst that could happen to their aunt deserved 
the exercise of their most sincere sympathy and 
support. 

Do tell us. Aunt Esther,” begged Jean. 
“ Whatever it is, we’ll all get together and help you 
out of it.” 

My cook has gone — gone for good ! ” moaned 
the woman, in spite of her heroic attempt to be 
brave. 

“ Is that all? ” cried Marje, much relieved. 

‘‘Well, isn’t that enough?” Mrs. Fortune 
gazed back at her niece and shuddered as though 
the thermometer had suddenly dropped to zero. 
“ Think of me with guests on my hands — five 
youngsters ! ” she almost wailed. “ And not a soul 
to do a thing for me — no dinner started — every- 
thing in the kitchen upside-down! And it’s hot 
enough to boil an egg on the window-sill! ” 

Before she could finish her plaints, however, and 
append a long list of uncomplimentary remarks con- 


Concerning Chicago 83 

cerning the new cook, Cora, the children were laugh- 
ing almost boisterously. By that time they were 
positive that their aunt’s sprightly imagination was 
more to blame than the stern realities that seemed 
to be confronting her. 

“ I only hired Cora this morning,” she went on 
helplessly. ‘‘ I’ve had such a dreadful time getting 
a girl that would act as maid and cook both — 
though I’m all alone and easy to get along with. 
Not one of them ever stays longer than a week, 
and I’m worried to death. When this girl came 
to me this morning to work by the day, I didn’t 
ask any questions. I just set her to work, and 
was glad enough to have her. Now she’s gone! 
When I went out a few minutes ago, there she 
was, all dressed for the street — purple parasol and 
all. She said she didn’t know I was going to run 
a boarding-house and have a lot of young ones 
around, this hot weather — and that her back was 
weak — and her mother had rheumatism — and I 
don’t know what all ! It’s disgusting ! ” 

“And is she gone?” questioned Carl, still un- 
able to decipher his aunt’s perplexities. 

“Yes — she took her day’s pay and streaked it 
down the back stairs as fast as her high heels 
could take her. I even offered to double her wages, 


34 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

but she scorned me. I don’t know what people are 
going to do for help; it’s getting worse every day.” 

‘‘ I think it’s just as Ned says,” suggested Carl, 
by no means worried over the scarcity of domestic 
help ; “ people are going to do their own work. 
And the larger the family, the easier it will be for 
them.” 

Aunt Esther failed to be illuminated by such a 
flighty theory. She looked vaguely at the speaker 
till Marje intervened with one of her practical de- 
ductions. “Don’t you worry. Auntie,” she said; 
“ it isn’t worth while. I’m sure we can get up a 
dinner that’ll suit you. And we’ll all enjoy it more 
than to have that cross-looking Cora hovering over 
us. I didn’t like the welcome she gave us ; it seemed 
to be put on. Now I can’t give lectures like Gath 
Singleton, but I can cook. And the rest can help. 
We’ll all cooperate and get up a meal.” 

“ But I don’t know how,” confessed Mrs. For- 
tune, no less disgruntled than if Marge had sug- 
gested that they all hang by their toes from one 
of the iron balconies. 

But before Mrs. Fortune could offer any excuses 
for her lack of education in the very necessary 
art of preparing a meal, Marje had seized her by 
the hand and kissed her warmly on the forehead. 


Concerning Chicago 35 

We’ll make it easy for you, Aunt Esther,” she 
chuckled. We’ll run back and get things to go- 
ing; and we’ll call you when it’s time to eat. You 
sit here and keep cool till Ned comes.” 


CHAPTER II 


AT THE WHITE CITY 

During all her widowhood, Mrs. Fortune had 
never known so much joy as when she sat at break- 
fast next morning with her nephews and nieces 
from Johnstown. She was at the head of the 
table pouring coffee; Ned at the foot was serving 
ham and eggs; while Marje and the others each 
had something else to do, in order to make the table 
service complete. The sun was slanting in through 
the low French-windows overlooking the tree-tops 
to the north; the canary birds in wicker cages over- 
hanging the iron balcony were singing themselves 
hoarse; and the goldfish were moving about in their 
square aquarium with unusual briskness, as if they 
knew the house was filled with lively company. 

I don’t know what I should have done without 
you children,” Aunt Esther was saying. “ It’s a 
treat to see you two girls get up a meal, and with- 
out the least trouble. I do hope I can get a cook 
soon. I’m discouraged over the servant question; 
it seems that no one can get help except the very 
rich people.” 


36 


37 


At the White City 

“ Don’t worry about that, Auntie,” soothed Marje 
for the dozenth time. She had changed her ging- 
ham apron for a white one, and was flushed and 
beaming, as she always was whenever she came out 
of the kitchen. “ We can get along capitally, all 
the time we’re here, and still have plenty of time 
to see the sights. We all know how to work to- 
gether, and it’s great fun.” 

“ I don’t mind running a vacuum-cleaner ; so I’ll 
clean all the rugs in a jiffy,” volunteered Carl. 

“ And I’ll do the dusting,” promised Jean. 
“ Bess says I’m an expert duster; I never leave any 
soiled corners.” 

‘‘ You’ll find it a task, Jean,” warned Mrs. For- 
tune. “ My apartment is as long as a freight- 
train.” 

“ Dusting is very good exercise,” said Ned, ap- 
proving Jean with a nod and a smile. ‘‘ Physical 
directors say it adds to the grace of the body and 
tones the muscles one never uses in walking or 
running; besides, Jean likes to dust.” 

“ But it seems odd to see a big boy like Carl 
taking an interest in keeping the house in order,” 
laughed Mrs. Fortune, though she seemed pleased 
at his originality. “ I always thought boys of fif- 
teen did nothing but keep the house untidy — throw 


38 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

their hats and coats everywhere — and all those 
things.” 

“ They do, sometimes,” answered Marje. But 
Carl is pretty good about being careful, unless he’s 
late for school or has to rush off to a ball game. 
Bess was determined he should know how much 
trouble it is to keep a house straight, even if she 
had to put him in the Navy where they make the 
boys wash dishes and mop and knit. He does all 
the heavy work about the house, such as carrying 
in coal, emptying ashes, and — ” 

“ But I beat the rugs,” enthusiastically boasted 
Rex. He was seated on a chair heightened by the 
addition of a big dictionary, and was taking an 
animated part in the conversation. “ Carl puts the 
rugs on the clothes-line — and I get the beater. 
I always play the rugs are people I don’t like — 
those mean Hodge boys next door or somebody; 
you bet I make the dust fly.” 

“ You mustn’t talk that way,” reproved Marje, 
fearing that Mrs. Fortune had discovered another 
weakness in Rex’s character. “ It would be nicer 
if you played the rugs were people you like — and 
that you are a doctor trying to cure them of their 
diseases. It’s no wonder you beat the borders off 
of our bath-room rugs.” 


At the White City 39 

Rex was not concerned with this mild rebuke 
from the sister compelled to act as mother when 
Bess was not with them. The truth is, he did not 
regard Marje as much of an authority, else he would 
not have spent so much time taking advantage of 
Jier. So he sat eating his porridge and wondering 
what festivities would be called forth by that lovely 
day. 

‘‘ I have to hurry away,'’ declared Ned as he 
hastily rose and folded his napkin. I’d like to 
stay and chat all the morning; but I’ll have to work 
till Aunt Esther picks me up at the Coliseum this 
afternoon. I hope you feel equal to the emergencies 
of the day. Auntie.” 

“ Oh, yes,” Mrs. Fortune responded with un- 
precedented zest. “ This is the first morning in 
years I haven’t got up with a dull, aching heart and 
a head to correspond with it. And it’s the first 
time since my marriage that I haven’t had a maid 
to wake me. I’m feeling very fit; I’ll call for you 
as I promised.” 

This time Aunt Esther did not look embarrassed 
nor half-hearted when her oldest nephew kissed her 
on the forehead, and repeated the same ceremony 
with his sisters. She had never associated 
kissing with an early breakfast; yet if that were 


40 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

the custom of her warm-hearted relatives she would 
not say a word to change the rule. Then too, kisses 
applied to the brow or cheek were not apt to be 
fatal. 

“ What a dear boy he is ! ” she exclaimed when 
Ned had fled from the apartment amid a demonstra- 
tion of good will that reminded her of some presi- 
dent leaving the United States to the tune of a 
farewell celebration on the dock. 

“ Indeed he is,’^ loyally championed Marje. 
“ Just think how long he’s been our father, Aunt 
Esther — and Bess our mother ! I don’t believe 
any other children ever had such young parents or 
any better ones.” 

“ He carries too much responsibility for a boy 
of twenty-three,” declared Mrs. Fortune with a 
sigh. “Just think of it! How many years I’ve 
wasted grieving over the departed dead and making 
myself the most miserable of women! I’m so glad 
the dear boy hinted that he wanted me to send for 
you. Now I’m going to make up for my past self- 
ishness — ” 

“ Hooray for Aunt Esther — whoopee ! ” shouted 
young Rex; though Marje glanced reprovingly at 
him and colored deeply. She knew very well that 
Rex was mercenary enough to be more interested 


41 


At the White City 

in visions of ice-cream cones and other dispensa- 
tions of his aunt’s bounty than in her complete 
change of heart. 

“ You’ve never been selfish, Aunt Esther,” Marje 
said with great positiveness. “ People living alone 
usually get into ruts, and they can’t help it.” 

“ And the longer they live alone, the fussier they 
get,” put in Carl with less tact. “ They get so 
strong in their dislikes, and so critical — ” 

Aunt Esther would never get that way in a 
thousand years,” interrupted Marje with great 
warmth. “ You mustn’t think Carl meant you, 
Auntie. You see, our family has always stood for 
free speech, and we say pretty much what we please 
to one another — though we try not to say any- 
thing that stings. Bess says it’s always better to 
talk over matters and have an understanding, rather 
than to keep on hoarding up misunderstandings till 
some breach might be made that can never be 
mended.” 

Aunt Esther said nothing. She was amazed at 
the many new angles life had presented to her since 
the advent of her young relatives. Somehow or 
other, the Merrymakers had a few healthy philoso- 
phies tucked away in their young brains; yet they 
were not unbearably priggish nor goody-goody. 


42 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

She made up her mind to study each of them, and 
find out what great principle it was that held them 
together as one firmly united family, even though 
their temperaments were as different as the flowers 
blooming in her window-boxes. There was Carl, 
just at the age when so many lads outgrow their 
parents and their sisters; yet he was thoughtful, 
and chivalrous to such an extent that he would 
willingly give up his boyish amusements to help 
Bess and Marje with their many duties, and strive 
every minute to keep his family united in spirit. 
Then there was motherly Marje, designed by Na- 
ture to perform tasks that always fall upon the 
robust and capable ; for she was stronger physically 
than her older sister, Bess, and — according to re- 
ports — an inch taller. What a woman she would 
make! And with all her constant reminders that 
she must not be herself, but a model for the rest, 
how patient and charitable she was towards all! 
Possibly she would be rather plump, like her father’s 
people ; and her heavy braids, her healthy color, and 
her deep brown eyes seemed to proclaim that she 
was a very substantial sort of person, and genuine 
to the heart’s core. Marje was one to be relied 
upon when others seemed doubtful. Yet Aunt 
Esther could not help but favor Jean, inasmuch as 


43 


At the White City 

she was one of those lovable little souls that cling 
and believe; they surely had their places in this 
great world choked with evil weeds. As for Rex, 
she was unable to make him out in less than twenty- 
four hours. Evidently he was a boy through and 
through — a baby perhaps in the presence of his 
elder brothers and sisters, but a plucky little man 
when compelled to follow out his own resources. 
In truth, she did not stop long enough to think much 
about Rex. He was amusing, and that was quite 
enough for Aunt Esther; he made her think of 
her own hoydenish days of the long ago. 

‘‘ Now Carl, while Jean and I pick up the dishes, 
you must write another card to Bess,'’ Marje was 
saying. “ You can write so much faster than the 
rest of us; it won’t take you ten minutes. We’ll 
have this house in order before long. No, Rex, 
you can’t go out in the street; and Aunt Esther 
hasn’t any yard to play in. Please be a good boy; 
you can help to dust all that nice parlor- furniture. 
And Jean, we must be careful of Aunt Esther’s 
dishes ; I’d hate to break one of them.” 

They’re so lovely,” complimented Jean, begin- 
ning to clear the table with caution seldom shown 
by such maids as Cora. '' I think the silverware is 
lovely, too; I’m going to polish it before long.” 


44 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

But what am I to do? queried Mrs. Fortune. 
‘‘ I never felt so incompetent in my life.” 

“You can boss ’em, Aunt Esther,” suggested 
Rex, thus proving to the lady of the house that 
his own model family was accustomed to a task- 
mistress. 

“ Wouldn’t you like to tidy up your bedroom ? ” 
suggested Marje with wavering modesty. “ Don’t 
try to make the bed; for Jean and I can do that in 
five minutes — that is, if we work together. We 
have a little song we sing ; it’s very foolish, 
but — ” 

“ I’ll sing it,” broke in enthusiastic Jean — in 
spite of Marje’s protests and still higher coloring 
beginning to sing in a childish voice pitched un- 
necessarily high : 

“Now we see Aunt Esther’s bed — all in a heap; 

We must fix it nice and smooth — so she can sleep. 
Hang the bed-clothes on a chair, 

Open windows — let them air, 

Turn the mattress, drive dull care 
Far, far away. 

“ First we place and tuck inside — Aunt Esther’s sheet ; 

Pat the pillows, set them up — how nice and neat ! 
Lay the other sheet on bed. 

Then the blanket, then the spread, 

Smooth them till each lump has fled 
Far, far away. 


45 


At the White City 

“Now be sure the coverings — are tucked about, 

So Aunt Esther’s tootsies won’t — come working out ; 
Now the bed is made, it seems; 

May it call forth happy themes. 

Till she flees on restful dreams, 

Far, far away.” 

But by this time Aunt Esther was helpless with 
laughter — just as she had the right to be, consid- 
ering that she had not indulged in such a pastime 
for many years, owing to the fact that she had 
always depended upon people of her own age for 
her amusement. 

“ There’s another verse about the pillow-shams, 
but we cut that out,” earnestly explained Jean. 
“ Nobody uses pillow-shams now.” 

“ It’s a very ingenious song — you dear thing ! ” 
cried Mrs. Fortune, trying in vain to match Jean 
in her sober earnestness. “ How many different 
ways there are of making beds! I think I’ll have 
you write down your recipe, so I can learn the 
business right away, since I haven’t any maid to 
wait on me. But dear — don’t you think you 
should pause a little between lines and let the bed- 
clothes air? It seems that you gallop along too 
fast.” 

Jean looked at her a moment, her eyes wide and 
round, as she replied with the same funny serious- 


46 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ness that had almost succeeded in killing her aunt 
outright, though Mrs. Fortune was not a woman 
given to excessive laughter : Oh, we sing very 

slowly — it takes about eight minutes. And when 
anybody gets up in the morning, at our house, we 
expect ’em to spread out their bed-clothes and open 
the windows, so everything will be ready when 
Marje and I go the rounds.” 

“ It’s such a comical little song — where did you 
learn it?” asked the aunt, childishly interested. 

“ Marje made it up,” said Jean proudly. 
** Marje is going to be a great poetess. She’s writ- 
ten Some of the loveliest poems for house use I 
ever heard.” 

'‘Oh, Jean, you make me so ashamed!” pro- 
tested her sister. “ You forget I’m past fourteen, 
and ought to know better than to write such stuff.” 
Marje, nevertheless, was equally as much amused 
as her aunt ; she laughed mischievously as she went 
on: "I did it for Jean’s sake. She’s a little girl 
yet, and likes to enjoy herself, even when she makes 
beds ; and I suppose at heart I’m just as young.” 

" That’s right, Marje,” stoutly approved Mrs. 
Fortune, cuddling Jean; "don’t be a young lady 
till it’s necessary, then never forget that you were 
once a child. One has to be an old woman so long. 


47 


At the White City 

it gets tiresome. I think the song very appropriate, 
and I want to hear you sing it to all the beds in the 
house. The tune is comical enough to make a statue 
laugh. Let me think — where did I hear it be- 
fore? ” 

“ It’s an old, old tune,” enlightened Carl. 
“ Once, we boys put words to it and sang it when 
we went through Greensburg in a moving-van. It 
sounded terribly funny, and we made a lot of 
racket. It went something like this : 

"Greensburg maidens they are fair — far, far away; 

They would give a boy a scare — ’most any day — ’ ” 

“ I’m going to change the tune,” said Marje, 
feigning great disgust. How could you join in 
singing such a hoodlum thing, when you know my 
dearest friend, Sophie Alleman, lives in Greens- 
burg? Then too, the grammar of your song is 
terrible.” 

'‘We only sung it once, and that was the day the 
Greensburg baseball team beat ours five to one, 
and the umpire wasn’t fair, and we all felt sore 
about it,” explained Carl lightly; for he was in- 
clined to think Marje’s criticism just. " I don’t 
believe we would have sung it if the Greensburg 
girls hadn’t roasted us so,” 


48 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

But by this time the dishwashing was in prog- 
ress, and Jean was raving over her aunt’s “ darling 
china-closets ” and their precious contents. So 
Carl went to the hall-library to write to Bess ; while 
Rex, forgetting all sense of duty, proceeded to turn 
the chaise-longue in the drawing-room into a Pull- 
man coach. During the reign of these various oc- 
cupations, Mrs. Fortune came out of her bedroom 
and sought Marje; she seemed, pale and nervous. 
Marje, obeying her aunt’s excited beckoning, fol- 
lowed her back to her room. 

‘‘What is it. Auntie?” she whispered, closing 
the door behind her. 

“ I’ve been robbed ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Fortune, 
though she expressed herself with more propriety 
than if she had been alone with a maid. ‘‘ But 
please don’t tell the others — please keep it secret.” 

“ Robbed? ” The word rang in Marje’s ears like 
a sudden fire-alarm too close to be comfortable. 
She sat down on the bed while her aunt continued 
rummaging through the drawers of her chiffonier. 
It seemed that the lady continued the frantic search 
an incredibly long time, while her niece sat there 
shuddering and awaiting further explanation. 

Strange, I never missed the things till five min- 
utes ago,” gasped the aunt, continuing her search 


49 


At the White City 

by opening the door of her closet and examining 
all the hooks, most of which were supporting hand- 
some black gowns and wraps on stretchers. 

“What’s missing, Auntie?’^ The girl could 
hardly ask the question, and it seemed another age 
before she received a reply. 

“ My summer furs are gone — and a pin I 
wouldn’t part with for anything in the world,” an- 
nounced her aunt. “ It was a gift from my dear 
husband. I also miss a pair of ear-rings — beau- 
tiful jet pendants I got in Rome — ” 

“ And what else? ” 

“ The land only knows ! I suppose there must 
be many other things gone, but I can’t place them 
now. You see, the maid I had before Cora used 
to look after my things. I never bothered any- 
thing about where my valuables were put, just so 
she brought them to me when I wanted to wear 
them. Oh, dear. I’ve been such an irresponsible 
woman ! ” 

All the time Mrs. Fortune was speaking, she 
made excited gestures and her face was very se- 
rious; but for once she was thinking of the happi- 
ness of other people, so did not wish to make her 
predicament public. She knew Marje was the one 
to help her. “ I think my house must have been 


50 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

gone through by some burglar yesterday afternoon 
when I went to the station to meet you/’ she said. 
“ But I haven’t found any traces of burglary in any 
of the other rooms.” 

“ But you wore your summer furs — I saw 
them,” assured Marje. ‘‘ I remember how I had 
to shake Rex to keep him from asking you why 
city women wore furs in the summer and went 
around with their necks bare during the winter.” 

“ Sure enough — I remember now. But what 
could have happened to them ? ” 

Are you sure you looked everywhere?” in- 
quired the girl, leaping up to continue the investi- 
gation more thoroughly. “ Your things seem to 
be rather badly tossed around.” 

“ Let’s not search any more,” begged the aunt, 
laying a restraining hand on her niece’s arm. ‘‘If 
anything more is missing, I don’t want to know it 
now.” 

Marje could not understand the philosophy of 
one who refused to find out the worst of a situation, 
but tried to evade it as long as possible. She was 
beginning to understand why her aunt and her 
mother had kept growing less and less congenial 
till they had finally drifted apart; they were as 
different as air and water. 


At the White City 51 

But Auntie, this theft should be reported,” she 
insisted. 

“Reported — how? Indeed, I’m not going to 
report it — and get written up in the newspapers 
and all that.” 

“ But we should telephone some detective agency, 
shouldn’t we? We ought to get a detective here 
right away, or a — a policeman.” 

Mrs. Fortune laughed — actually laughed in the 
face of what she would have considered a great 
calamity twenty-four hours before. “ What good 
would a detective or a policeman do — hours and 
hours after the things have been stolen? Detec- 
tives and newspapers pull together ; the whole world 
would hear about it — and all the thieves in Chicago 
would find out that I had valuables worth stealing, 
and make my life miserable. No, indeed — I shall 
bear my loss with fortitude, and with dignity. But 
I hope the wicked burglar that stole them will never 
have a moment’s rest till he brings them back. I’d 
like to tell him what I think of him. I’m sure he 
must have climbed into my pantry window — it’s 
always open.” 

“ But a burglar doesn’t necessarily have to be a 
man,” said Marje, her serious face imbedded in her 
plump hands as she leaned against her aunt’s dress- 


52 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ing-table. “I’m almost sure the thief was a 

woman.” 

‘‘ But what woman could climb into a window in 
broad daylight? That’s out of the question,” 

scoffed Mrs. Fortune. 

Perhaps she didn’t climb in at the win- 
dow. You may have let her in by the front 

door.” 

“No, Marje; you’re either mistaken, or else I 
do strange things in my sleep.” Even then Mrs. 
Fortune’s look of guileless innocence showed that 
she had no idea of what was pending. She had 
grown accustomed to having others do most of her 
thinking and planning. 

“ Can’t you recall anybody that was here yes- 
terday?” began Marje, so conscientiously that her 
question sounded rather imperative. 

“ Nobody but Gath Singleton, and I’m sure he 
wouldn’t take them,” said Mrs. Fortune with a 
show of indignation. 

“ I don’t mean to seem suspicious — but I didn’t 
like the looks of that maid you had — Cora,” stam- 
mered Marje. 

“ Oh, I wonder if it could be she? ” Mrs. For- 
tune seemed convinced that her niece was on the 
right track. 


At the White City 53 

‘‘ What was her full name, and who recommended 
her?” 

The aunt racked her brain for some time before 
saying helplessly : “ Indeed, I don’t know her last 

name nor where she came from. I didn’t get her 
from an Agency. She said she was recommended 
by a lady I knew in Hyde Park — ” 

“What was the lady’s name?” 

“ Indeed, I couldn’t place the woman ; I thought 
perhaps she might have been some one I had met 
at a club or an afternoon tea. So many people 
know me — and I’m interested in so few, I never 
try to remember names. When that Cora came 
and offered to hire out, I fairly nabbed her. I put 
her right in the kitchen and told her to work out 
her salvation as best she could. But I can’t think 
the thief was Cora. If it had been she, I’m sure 
she would have gotten away before I returned from 
the station.” 

“ She possibly wanted to get a good haul,” said 
Marje with the wisdom of a very highly experienced 
woman. “ Possibly she needed summer furs and 
the jewelry you wore. Did she act suspicious when 
she left? ” 

“ Come to think of it — she did. She ran down 
the back way as soon as she got her pay for the 


54 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

day, though I shouldn’t have given her a cent till 
she had prepared dinner for us. I’ll never hire 
another person by the day. I noticed that the little 
grip she carried was rather bulging in appearance, 
and I wondered at the time why she took a grip 
along with her; people don’t usually do that when 
they’re hired by the day. But I’m not suspicious ; I 
never dreamt of such a nice-looking girl as Cora 
doing such an outrageous thing, though I was angry 
with her when she told me she wasn’t coming back.” 

“ I should think you’d have to be very cautious 
— in a great city like Chicago,” said Marje. 

“ But she had such honest eyes ; they seemed to 
look into one’s very soul. No one would have 
doubted her.” 

‘‘ Possibly,” agreed Marje, despite the fact that 
she tossed her head unbelievingly. ‘‘ I’ve seen such 
eyes before, and they’re sometimes not averse to 
looking into people’s bedrooms for things to steal. 
As for me, I didn’t like her eyes. They were not 
shifting eyes, but the brazen kind that takes you in 
at one glance — the kind that stares impudently at 
you, as if they wonder how old you are, and what 
your bank account is, and if it will be easy to get 
around you.” 

Well, what are we going to do about it?” 


At the White City 55 

Marje continued, after a moment of complete si- 
lence. 

“ Simply let it go, and forget about it,” replied 
tbe other. “ Fd be ashamed to let anybody know 
I had been taken in so easily. Fd rather lose the 
ring and all — much as it breaks my heart. It’s 
a dear lesson, but I’ve learned it.” 

She laughed rather gamely as she rose to close the 
drawers of the chiffonier. ' 

“ If I were in your place, I know what Fd do,” 
said Marje, her feeling of shock quite over-ridden 
by her growing indignation against the mysterious 
Cora ; “ Fd call up Ned, and we’d get together and 
talk it over. Fd tell him all the circumstances, and 
we’d soon decide what would be the best step to 
take to recover the lost property. Two good opin- 
ions are better than one, at such a time.” 

“ But Ned would laugh and keep reminding you 
that you were very green to be taken in that way.” 

‘‘ Perhaps he would,” admitted Marje. Some- 
times brothers can make it very uncomfortable for 
a person — perhaps say a great many things they 
shouldn’t — but I’ve found it best to share the con- 
fidence of my brothers. We always hold consulta- 
tions.” 

“ But we can’t in this case,” protested Mrs. For- 


56 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

tune. “I don’t want Ned to know it; he might 
think me incompetent to manage his brothers and 
sisters, though all I have done is to let them manage 
me. And I don’t want the little ones to know. 
Promise me, Marje, you’ll not give away our secret 
to Jean or Rex.” 

Marje promised, very much against her will. 
She saw the sincerity pervading her aunt’s point 
of view, though she had firm convictions of her 
own. 

“And Marje, I want you to forget it, too, for 
the present,” pleaded her aunt, looking so pathetic 
yet SO pretty that Marje gave her an impulsive 
embrace. “ This afternoon I was going to take 
you out in my motor-car to see some of the sights; 
but Gath will do just as well. I’d much rather 
stay at home.” 

“ But I’m going to stay with you. Aunt Esther,” 
declared the girl. “ Do you think I’d desert you 
after you’ve had such a calamity? And I’m sure 
Jean won’t go without me. So you and I can 
rummage here all afternoon, for those furs and 
things; and I’ll not breathe a. word of it to Jean.” 

“ That’s a dear ; I’ll make it up to you in some 
way.” And with the lightness of a child, Mrs. 
Fortune dismissed the topic. With her arm about 


At the White City 57 

Marje’s waist, she returned to the kitchen, and was 
soon carrying on a sprightly conversation with Jean. 
As for Marje, she grew reconciled to the situation, 
so far as the present was concerned. There was 
no advantage to be gained by spoiling the pleasure 
of Jean and Rex, even for one short moment; but 
she would watch and wait for an opportunity to get 
the thief. 

So it happened that a party of young gentlemen 
occupied Mrs. Fortune’s motor-car late that after- 
noon, while the girls stayed at home — Jean won- 
dering why her poor aunt had such a racking head- 
ache, and why Marje spent her time in Aunt 
Esther’s hot bedroom, with the door shut. 

As this volume is not intended as a guide-book 
for boys and girls, but simply to show how an 
American family, bound together by common in- 
terests and great affection, conducted themselves 
during a visit to Chicago, it will be impossible to 
mention all the wonderful things the Merrymaker 
boys, with Jack Gore and Gath Singleton, saw be- 
fore returning to the handsome apartment of Mrs. 
Fortune in Grand Boulevard. Indeed, they kept 
their chauffeur busily employed for several hours; 
for they begged to be taken through the chain of 


58 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

superb boulevards and parks that adorn the North, 
West, and South Sides, thereby learning by their 
own experience that Gath Singleton had not been 
too loud in his praises of The Garden City. 

It was in the evening that they enjoyed them- 
selves most; for they dined, to the strains of an 
Italian band, in a lovely garden with unusually 
cooling breezes. The tables and chairs were painted 
green — as green as the rolling lawn all about them ; 
and the murmur of a great fountain lent zest to the 
notes of sweet-toned flutes and clarinets. 

“ I wish we had a green table at home,” said Rex, 
who was seated in a high-chair. He was eating very 
early green-corn from a cob, with such voracity Ned 
could hardly bear to look at him; for Rex had a 
unique way of working his mouth along the cob as 
if he were playing a French-harp, and there were 
kernels of corn and the grease of butter high on 
his cheeks and clinging to his ears. 

Why do you want a green table ? ” asked Gath 
Singleton, much amused at Rex’s picnic deport- 
ment. 

’Cause we wouldn’t have to have a table-cloth, 
and nobody would scold you for makin’ spots,” re- 
plied Rex, but not till he had reached the end of 
his enjoyable pastime. 


59 


At the White City 

“ rm thankful Bess isn’t here to see you eat,” 
said Ned. “ You act like a starved little savage. 
Take that napkin and wipe off your countenance.” 

“ Bess never cares when we are out on a picnic,” 
assured the younger brother, making sure that the 
cob was of no further value to him. 

“ Do you have many picnics? ” inquired Gath. 

‘‘ They seem to have them most of the time in 
summer,” informed Ned, at the same time smiling 
at Rex’s bold onslaught upon an ample piece of 
peach pie. “ They have them in the woods when 
it’s hot, and at home when it rains.” 

But we’re not going to have so many in the 
future,” said Carl rather ruefully. “ You see. I’m 
working during my leisure hours now, and Bess 
belongs to so many literary societies, and Marje 
has to practice on the piano four hours a day; I 
suppose by next summer Rex and Jean will be 
having their picnics alone.” 

Gath laughed. He thought the Merrymakers 
very odd and simple in their customs and philoso- 
phies. Yet the old-fashioned sort of family amuse- 
ments did not appeal to him; he loved the great 
city with its modern conveniences and luxuries, and 
at sixteen was making himself congenial with his 
father’s amusements. But notwithstanding that he 


60 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

was inclined to make light of the simplicity per- 
vading these thoroughly human youngsters, he was 
pleased with their lack of affectation and their dis- 
position to make the best of any event that should 
come their way. 

“ Rex,” admonished Carl rather sharply, you’ll 
get crumbs all over yourself. Always hang your 
face over the table when you eat pie.” 

The others laughed uproariously at this candid 
but questionable bit of advice; especially Gath, who 
had noted with increasing amusement that most of 
Rex’s repast seemed bent upon evading his mouth. 
Though Rex somewhat resented this unnecessary 
infringement upon his liberty, he obeyed Carl’s in- 
structions and found them much to his advantage. 

After dinner, the boys took a trolley-car and 
rode to Sans Souci. There the subdued lights 
tucked away in the foliage of the trees, the various 
places of amusement, and several bands playing 
their most festive airs, charmed them for another 
hour. But Gath, who was never contented to stay 
long in one place and was always on the search for 
something novel, insisted that they go to the White 
City. 

And surely this was the whitest city the Merry- 
makers had ever seen; unlike the down-town part 


61 


At the White City 

of Chicago with its clouds of coal-dust monopoliz- 
ing the pure air and plunging into mourning its 
many wonderful pieces of architecture that other- 
wise would have been the delight of the floating 
population ! 

First they passed through an avenue of shops 
and open air refectories. Fakirs were selling their 
wares or inviting the pleasure-seeking public to in- 
dulge in games of chance. There were shooting- 
galleries and side-shows heralded by extravagant 
pictures in gay colors. There was a long roller- 
coaster that leapt over hills and vales to a dim peak 
in the distance. No wonder the passengers of this 
flying caterpillar shrieked and bellowed in mingled 
fear and exhilaration, considering the unprecedented 
thrill they were experiencing for only a dime apiece ! 
There was also a queer contrivance into whose 
round compartments passengers were packed, like 
pickles in a jar, and bounced about on a rough sur- 
face supposed to resemble in its movements the 
waves of an angry ocean. Though Ned tried this 
sport, to please the others of the party, he could 
not comprehend why people should be willing to 
pay for being bumped till their bones ached and 
their teeth chattered ; howbeit, Rex insisted that it 
was very beneficial, especially after one had eaten 


62 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

a hearty meal. In another place they saw human 
beings hurled one by one through a big funnel and 
out upon a canvas stretcher; some of them lighted 
most ungracefully, yet they brazenly shrieked their 
satisfaction and kept on spending their money to* 
repeat this grotesque performance, notwithstanding 
that they might have considered it a great hardship 
to be slightly jolted while hanging to street-car 
straps. 

At the base of the great white tower, which was 
studded with hundreds of brilliant lights, was a vast 
stage facing a pool of silvery water. Scores of 
girls in filmy dresses of pink, blue, or white, were 
dancing to the strains of an immense band-orchestra. 
But how could any one follow the theme of the 
most powerful musical selection ever composed 
when so many exciting things kept happening all 
the time? Indeed, Rex yelled at the top of his voice 
when a girl in the distance mounted a ladder fifty 
feet high and plunged into a tank of water. But 
before he could be convinced that the girl’s neck had 
not been broken, a man in a monoplane buzzed over 
their heads; and, from all sides of the artificial lake, 
bushy-haired girls and museum freaks of every de- 
scription came out upon their respective platforms 
to be exploited by their shrill-voiced managers. It 


63 


At the White City 

seemed that every time the dancing singers on the 
stage reached a thrilling note that warranted the 
undivided attention of their audience, some one in 
that vast area of amusements would spoil the effect 
by shouting “ Hot tamales ! ” '' Peanuts ! ” “ Nice 
fresh popcorn! ” or some event of a startling nature 
would elicit vociferous hurrahs and roars of laugh- 
ter. 

I like a lively place,” shouted Gath from the 
far end of their long settee. I don’t want any- 
thing slow ; real life is poky enough.” 

Rex enthusiastically agreed with him, but Carl 
had nothing to say. He considered all these dis- 
tractions very suitable for people who led humdrum 
lives, or for nervous folk managing to keep normal 
by subjecting themselves to a continuous siege of 
excitement; but, so far as he was concerned, he 
preferred a game of baseball in the scorching sun, 
or a rainy evening at home where wit and humor 
were all the funnier for the reason that they were 
unpremeditated. 

Then they continued their quest through this 
panorama of wonders, and agreed with Gath that 
the White City was worth the price of admission 
and much more. But nothing proved so amusing 
to Rex as the stall at which several men were pay- 


64 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ing a nickel apiece in order to throw a ball at a 
colored boy’s head poked through a hole in a square 
of soiled canvas. It was comical to see this black 
creature roll his eyes, twitch his heavy lips, and 
dare his assailants to do their worst, though Rex 
noted that he was very eager to duck his curly pate 
whenever a ball came uncomfortably close. 

“ I never saw anything so funny,” laughed Rex, 
so boisterously that Ned grew somewhat worried 
about the moral conduct of his youngest charge. 
He wondered why a pastime so sordid should make 
such a strong appeal to a Merrymaker. 

Why do you laugh, Rex? ” he asked anxiously. 
“ What fun would there be in firing a ball at the 
head of that poor colored boy?” 

Oh, I wish somebody would hit him ! ” cried 
Rex, unconscious of Ned’s paternal solicitude. ** It 
would serve him right. He makes such ugly faces 
and dares everybody to hit him — and when they 
miss, he gives ’em the laugh.” 

I think the law should prevent such spectacles,” 
said Ned disapprovingly, though he gazed with the 
same sort of fascination that seemed to be consum- 
ing Rex. Suppose somebody should put his eye 
out? ” 

He gets, paid for it,” said Gath indifferently. 



“ HE GAZED WITH THE SAME SORT OF FASCINATION THAT 
SEEMED TO BE CONSUMING REX ’’ 





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ft 

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65 


At the White City 

and he’s willing to run the risk — so why worry 
about it? Besides, nobody ever hits him; he’s too 
good a ducker. And it’s likely that his skull is so 
thick, a person couldn’t dent it with a sledge-ham- 
mer; it’s possibly as solid as the dome over St. 
Peter’s.” 

But Gath’s attempted justification of that ques- 
tionable amusement was cut short by another pene- 
trating shriek from Rex, caused by the sight of the 
wooly head disappearing just as a ball crashed 
against the canvas within an inch of it; surely, it 
was a close call. And, to make it all the more 
absorbing to onlookers, the colored boy immediately 
stuck his face through the hole again and shouted 
impudently : Poor shot — you couldn’t hit a 

barn! I’m not going to move next time; try it 
once more if you dare!” 

‘‘ Come on, let’s find something a little more 
edifying,” suggested Ned as he led the reluctant 
Rex away. 

‘‘Yes; suppose we try a shooting-gallery, and 
fire at the paper geese and rabbits,” advocated Carl. 

But before this advice could be followed out, Ned 
found himself being dragged into a merry-go-round 
that revolved to the catchy airs proceeding from a 
white organ encrusted with gilt mermaids and 


66 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

cupids. Though he positively insisted that they 
all sit in a red chariot upon which were carved 
the images of ludicrous hobgoblins and fat babies 
with wide-open mouths, Gath Singleton and Rex 
soon began to satisfy their craving for sensational- 
ism by mounting a pair of white ostriches, while 
Jack Gore and Carl seated themselves upon a pair 
of gray nags that moved up and down with comical 
precision. Ned — good-natured lad that he was — 
even consented to several more of these thrilling 
rides, despite the fact that the insufferable weather 
and the Convention had combined to make him 
dizzy enough, without his trying mechanical de- 
vices of the merry-go-round variety. Furthermore, 
he ate a Frankfurter sausage with the rest, just two 
minutes after their ride had ceased, and topped it 
off with hot peanuts and a glass of orangeade. 

“ Fm afraid Aunt Esther and Marje will find 
it hard to control Rex to-morrow, after such a 
wild night,” he laughingly remarked from his cor- 
ner of the bench by the artificial lake, where they had 
returned to watch the ascension of an illuminated 
balloon. Then he discovered that he had been talk- 
ing to himself ; for his companions had all deserted 
him and were swallowed up by the throng. He did 
not worry, however ; he knew that Rex was at least 


67 


At the White City 

sure of protection when escorted by Jack Gore, 
though he realized that Jack Gore had little regard 
for decorum when there was a romp in sight. Ten 
minutes later he beheld Gath and Carl, with Rex 
between them, coming rapidly towards him; Rex 
carried a flat object in both chubby hands, and he 
and all his companions were laughing boisterously. 

“Where have you been?” was Ned’s natural 
query. 

“We weren’t lost,” assured Gath, suddenly con- 
trolling himself to match Ned’s rather elderly dig- 
nity ; “ you can’t lose a Chicagoan in Chicago. 
You see, Rex was determined to take a chance — ” 

“A chance at what?” quizzed Ned, affecting 
seriousness as he gazed at the youngest of the 
Merrymakers. “What has he been doing now? 
He’s made me do all sorts of outrageous things this 
evening — bump the billows, ride on a merry-go- 
round, and slip through a funnel — yet the little 
rascal wasn’t satisfied.” 

“ He was bound to go back and have a shot at 
that colored fellow stickin’ his head through a hole 
in a blanket,” explained Carl. 

“Yes — Jack Gore held me up, so I could aim 
straight,” said Rex with frantic enthusiasm. 

“ I didn’t want him to do it, but he had his head 


68 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

set,” apologized Carl, touched by Ned’s look of con- 
sternation. “ But he won a prize — a pretty Japa- 
nese pin-tray for Aunt Esther.” 

Sure I did, Ned,” clamored Rex, holding up 
the precious bit of bric-a-brac, which upon close 
inspection did not seem entirely appropriate as a 
gift for a lady of Mrs. Fortune’s fastidious tastes 
— though to this day she still keeps it stored away 
in a china-cabinet, with her Cloisonne collection. 
“ It only cost a nickel a chance — and I borrowed 
the money of Jack Gore. But, all the same, I hit 
that colored kid — ker-plunk ! — right on the 
bean ! ” 


CHAPTER III 


CARL HELPS NED 

Intense commotion was prevailing at the Coli- 
seum. The Speaker of the Convention — a small 
man with a scraggy beard and the eye of a king- 
fisher — was standing pigeon-toed on the high plat- 
form and pounding the table with a wooden mallet 
till it seemed that both the table and the mallet 
would fly into splinters. But the more the little 
speaker pounded and perspired, the more deafening 
grew the cries and buzzings of that vast multitude. 
Indeed Carl, who had come down to visit Jack 
Gore and Ned, was almost overcome by these stren- 
uous manifestations. Hitherto he had supposed 
that Senators, Congressmen, and Representatives 
were always placid and dignified in public; but to 
his amazement he found them engaging in antics 
common to bleachers at a ball-game. He beheld 
circling rows of notable men from every state in 
the Union; they seemed to have been assorted and 
placed in sections like so many prize pigs about to 
be marketed in choice places — each section desig- 
G9 


70 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

nated by a huge placard flaring its specific number 
in big black figures. 

A delegate from Honolulu had just ascended the 
platform and was preparing to overcome the confu- 
sion with the sheer weight of his eloquence; several 
other delegates, who had bobbed up like mushrooms 
after a warm rain, in order to get recognition from 
the Speaker, seemed to wither and fall back into their 
cramped places. The delegate from Honolulu 
seemed thirsty, for he drank two glasses of ice- 
water before mopping his brow, separated his wilted 
collar from his Adam’s-apple, and almost lifted 
the beamed ceiling with his thunderous bass voice. 
Notwithstanding that the orator kept alluding to 
his surprise at being called upon to speak a word 
for his cause, Carl knew very well that no human 
being could give vent to such an ornate address 
without having spent many months in its prepara- 
tion. 

Stirred by the excitement, the overwhelming dis- 
play of flags, and the ocean of bobbing heads — 
most of them bald and intelligent-looking — the 
boy slowly made his way down to the row of desks 
between the platform and the Nebraska section. 
There he found the reporters scribbling away on 
pads and loose sheets of paper; while office and 


71 


Carl Helps Ned 

messenger boys kept in lively circulation among 
them as they skeltered to and fro, mbst of them 
seeking the precious “ copy ” demanded by every 
newspaper in the nation. Both Jack Gore and Ned 
were working as though they had but a few seconds 
more in which to make out their last wills and 
testaments — Ned with a grave face, but Jack Gore 
smiling as if the Honolulu address were a very 
comical monologue instead of a serious burst of 
oratory. For ten minutes Carl stood in the shadow 
of the Nebraska banner; he knew that it was a 
punishable crime to interrupt reporters when they 
were on the “ dead line,” as Ned termed it. Glad 
he was when an intermission was called, and Ned 
motioned him to approach his desk. 

“ Hello, Carl,” was Ned’s cordial greeting. 
“ I’m pleased that you accepted my invitation to 
come down and see the Big Convention. Jack 
Gore is here. He is waiting for a word with 
you.” 

Carl eagerly advanced. Well, well, well — 
how’s the boy? ” Jack burst forth, in imitation of his 
delightful boarding-house mistress, Mrs. O’Brien. 
“ I take great pleasure in welcoming you to Chi- 
cago, though nobody did that much for me. You 
see, there are too many other national celebrities 


72 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

here; it’s no wonder I feel as covered-up as the 
tiny potato in the bottom of a grocer’s measure. 
Hope you’re well. How are Marje and Jean and 
the little shaver to-day ? ” 

“ Very well, thanks,” replied Carl, rather em- 
barrassed by Jack’s loud and effusive greeting, which 
seemed to set most of the Nebraska section to star- 
ing at them. “ Aunt Esther wants you to come 
out to dinner to-night; she’s eager to meet you.” 

‘‘ Three cheers and a tiger for your Aunt 
Esther!” returned Jack Gore, making the most of 
the intermission by sitting down on one of the low 
desks and swinging his legs. “ It sounds good to 
me. I’m very restless for some evidence of home, 
even if it’s nothing more than a fried egg on a 
plate and a cat under the table. But how are you 
spending your time ? ” 

“ Just visiting,” said Carl, looking somewhat 
shame- faced. “Ned asked me to come down to 
the Convention — so I did. A friend named Gath 
Singleton — the one you met last night — came 
along with me ; he’s out at the side entrance talking 
to some one in an automobile. I hope you can 
give me a job; I hate to see you and Ned working 
so hard, while I do nothing but kill time.” 

“ There doesn’t seem to be anything an untrained 


73 


Carl Helps Ned 

boy can do/’ put in Ned as he leaned back in his 
chair and directed a tired smile at his brother. 
“ Jack and I have been right at the bat ever since 
this affair opened. If it hadn’t been for these in- 
termissions, I’m sure we’d have died long ago. So 
much to do — and such heat and noise!” 

“ You’re always reminding me that I’m only a 
boy,” said Carl with some asperity. But you 
must at least admit that Tm rather a big boy; and 
Fm at the age when I want to sound out the various 
occupations and find what I’m fitted for in life. I 
think you might give me something to do, just for 
experience — something that will be a help to you.” 

Sure, we will,” cried Jack Gore, as usual sympa- 
thetic with Carl’s projects; ‘‘you can get right at 
it. Say, Ned, why can’t we send the kid out to 
corner those dark horses? It will save us a heap 
of work, and it can’t do any harm. Besides, it’s 
right that we should give the boy a chance.” 

“ Impossible,” laughed Ned. But as Jack Gore 
was always ready to try innovations, he closed his 
ears to Ned’s derisive refusal and approached Carl 
in confidential fashion. Carl hoped that Jack was 
not going to spring a joke — possibly tell him to 
go and chase himself. 

“ Say, Carl,” began Jack, laying an impressive 


74 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

hand upon the boy’s arm; “ I think you’re just the 
lad we can use. We’re trying to get interviews 
with three very important men of the Convention : 

Senator A of Connecticut, Congressman G 

of Ohio, and Senator ’V of Iowa. They’re 

very important but very modest and retiring by 
nature, as all great men are, barring politicians that 
have to do their own hustling. They seem to be 
working in the dark, and they don’t want any news- 
paper notoriety. I haven’t the slightest idea where 
you’ll find them — so don’t ask me. Reporters 
have to do their own nosing for news, or they won’t 
get any. Run on now, and get them to talking. 
Bring us a nice little interview from each of them, 
but keep as cool as you can. We’ll be here till five 
to-night, perhaps later.” 

Ned attempted to interfere. Jack,” he said, 
you might just as well tell the boy to go out and 
pump the lake dry, or purify the canal. The idea 
of your sending out a green boy on such an assign- 
ment — to corner and interview three of the slip- 
periest men of the Convention! Don’t pay any 
attention to him, Carl. Just go out with Single- 
ton and have a good time. Jack and I are used 
to burrowing through these conventions without 
help. Thanks,, just the same.” 


Carl Helps Ned 75 

'‘You mind me, Carl — not Ned,” spoke Jack 
with authority. “ Here’s a pad and a stub of a 
pencil. Now’s your opportunity to find out whether 
you re a bright boy or a boob. Interview the Con- 
necticut senator first. I shouldn’t be surprised if 
you’d find all three of them together — simply for 
the reason that they’re always fighting one another 

through the newspapers. Senator V of Iowa 

is a fighter; he’s likely to turn you wrong-side-out, 
then call for the police before you can pull your- 
self together again. So you must speak to him as 
though he were an angel in kid gloves.” 

Carl thrust the pad and pencil into his pocket. 
Now that he had received an assignment, he was 
uncertain as to how he should proceed; yet he was 
determined to ask no questions. 

Jack, evidently reading the mind of his new re- 
cruit with that accuracy characterizing men of his 
profession, rattled on with increasing assurance: 
“ I know you’ll get something for your trouble — 
and it will be a great help to Ned. Don’t bother 
because you don’t know the run of the Conven- 
tion or anything about politics. If you’re bright 
enough to corner them, they’ll tell you everything 
you ought to know — and more, too. Your great- 
est task will be to head them off when once they 


76 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

get started to talk. I hope you'll pull out a few 
plums worth while — ” 

“ But Jack,” protested Ned, “ I don’t want my 
young brother running around to hotels — ” 

“ What’s the difference, so long as he doesn’t 
stop long enough to loaf?” came back Jack with 
playful roughness. “ Can’t you give him a chance 
to use his judgment? Surely you want your 
brother to show his gumption, don’t you? Or do 
you want him to be a dodder-head — no earthly 
good except to put away three squares a day and 
sleep like a horse at night ? ” 

Ned shrugged his shoulders. What was the use 
of trying to reason with such an irresponsible crea- 
ture as his dearest chum. Jack Gore? He had 
nothing to say when Jack went on in his breezy way : 
“ Besides, Carl is more cautious than you. And 
if he fails to drag forth these three distinguished 
gentlemen, we’ll forgive him, and he’ll have the 
benefit of the experience and all the exercise a man 
needs for one day. You forget that you were as 
green as Carl when you started in. Don’t you re- 
member how you made a laughing-stock of yourself 
when the newspaper sent you out to interview a man 
named John Smith — a man accused of selling 
meat under weight? It surely was a scream when 


77 


Carl Helps Ned 

you tackled the wrong John Smiths a minister of 
the gospel — and got put out of the house; and the 
way you absent-mindedly trotted off with his um- 
brella, and was afraid to take it back.” 

Because of its veracity Ned did not fly into a 
temper at this indelicate reminder. Like the 
other Merrymakers he was square enough to en- 
joy a good joke at his own expense; so, before 
he knew it, he agreed that Jack should give Carl 
his desired opportunity. No other words were 
spoken; for at that moment the Speaker was again 
mauling the table with his great wooden mallet, 
and Carl was hurrying out of the building, while 
the brass band was slowly convalescing from its 
recent stentorian attack upon Hail, Columbia ! ” 
Ned smiled grimly as he noted all the havoc wrought 
by heat and excitement in that vast arena of human 
beings; he decided that it was no more than fair 
that Carl should share these discomforts in his 
willing pursuit of experience. 

Nobody seemed to realize that Carl had just 
been appointed an assistant correspondent for a 
leading New York newspaper; in truth, not a soli- 
tary person seemed interested in anybody else at 
that tense meeting. Consequently, Carl believed 
that he had a dear field to himself in which to test 


78 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

his ability as an interviewer — just as he had, that 
time in New York, when he' tried out the detective 
game and found it extremely distasteful. Chi- 
cago was a big place — a broad place ; evidently, 
people did not care what others were doing, so long 
as they kept from colliding with the general wel- 
fare. He found Gath Singleton waiting at the en- 
trance. 

“ I’ve got a job,” announced Carl with great con- 
fidence. 

“ What kind of a job — any money in it? ” ques- 
tioned Gath. 

“ Not a cent. I’m going to help Jack Gore and 
Ned. They’re swamped with this Convention — 
poor fellows ! — and they want me to hunt up a few 
celebrities and interview them. I expect to get 
some of the biggest fish of this Convention to talk- 
ing.” 

Carl had no time to revise his mixed metaphor ; so 
he kept a straight face and hurried on, despite 
Gath’s disposition to lag behind and roar at such an 
incongruity as talking fish. For Carl was in ear- 
nest — so much so that he refused to stop at a drug- 
store for a milk-shake. Soon they had wended 
their way to Michigan Boulevard — a thoroughfare 
exceedingly beautiful, notwithstanding that twelve 


79 


Carl Helps Ned 

hundred locomotives encrust it with grime each day, 
and the mighty Lake Michigan at its side constantly 
moans and endeavors to get at it and cleanse it from 
foundation to topmost pinnacle. 

The two lads walked with the vigor and briskness 
of typical Chicagoans; for Carl, too, had grown 
more brisk and alert since discovering that it is no 
less than a crime to poke about the Windy City 
after the leisurely manner that seems to possess 
most of the people in less strenuous towns — peo- 
ple who have plenty of leisure but no style. And as 
they progressed, they spent their time in discussing 
the three celebrities Carl was to interview — espe- 
cially the cross one from Iowa. Their young faces 
were illumined with new interest ; for both boys were 
full of vim, and Life seemed to be stretching out 
before them the glittering mantle of their future, 
like the silver-blue lake confronting the grimy but 
beautiful Boulevard. Gath was taller, also smarter 
in dress than Carl ; then too, he was somewhat hand- 
somer. But, on the other hand, Carl did not suffer 
by comparison with Gath; he was one of those 
young Americans compelled to work out his own 
destiny — one who dares not fail to regard the wel- 
fare of his devoted family as his first consideration. 
Consequently, his eyes seemed brighter with the zeal 


80 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

that opens the way to fitting opportunities, and his 
face was flushed with the glow of happy expectation. 

I have a suggestion to make,’’ said Gath as they 
neared the Auditorium, a building of such massive 
proportions and unquestionable dignity that Carl 
gazed at it in reverence : I’ll help you with your 

work. But how on earth shall we set about it? 
Where are your three celebrities staying? ” 

“ I haven’t the least idea,” replied Carl, looking 
nonplussed. ‘‘ And if I had asked Jack, he’d have 
told me that I’d never make a good reporter if I 
stopped to ask questions. All I have to work on 
is just the clue that those three men are somewhere 
in Chicago. I’m going to let my common sense 
guide me — that is, if I have any. I’m glad you’re 
going to help me; but we mustn’t be working at 
cross purposes. It seems to me that the first thing 
to do is for us to go to Republican Headquarters in 
the Congress Hotel. That’s where I started for.” 

“ Good idea,” acceded Gath. “ You’d better run 
down the Connecticut man, while I try to get a clue 
to the one from Ohio. I don’t care to interview 
that fierce one from Iowa. You see, I live in Chi- 
cago, and I don’t want to have anything sensational 
happen to me — especially while my folks are away 
from home,” 


81 


Carl Helps Ned 

Carl consented to this plan, and both plucky boys 
began their separate pursuits, after agreeing to 
meet late that afternoon in the lobby of the Congress 
Hotel. 

It must be admitted that Carl’s heart fluttered 
when he had gone up in one of the Congress eleva- 
tors and was beginning investigations in the great 
rooms used as the headquarters of the Convention. 
This suite was occupied largely by well-dressed men 
walking about or visiting in little groups. All of 
them seemed to be on their good behavior; they 
were excessively polite to one another and shook 
hands frequently. Several clerks were writing or 
answering questions at desks and tables ; there was a 
frantic rapping of telegraph instruments, also an 
industrious clicking of typewriters, while two fat 
men could be seen talking and perspiring freely in 
telephone booths. Over all hung the Stars and 
Stripes and several yards of twisted bunting. 

Carl learned at the information desk that the 
Connecticut Senator was not on record ; in fact, the 
clerk — a young woman with an inflated coil of 
auburn hair — was not sure that Connecticut had 
a Senator. But Carl had learned from Ned that 
the main essentials in reporting are to find a clue, 
and never to get discouraged at the rebuffs hiding 


82 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

the clue from sight; so he set out upon a desultory 

search for Senator A gaining strength and 

courage with each failure to find his whereabouts. 
For a half-hour he hunted headquarters, the hotel 
lobby, the writing-rooms, and even the ladies’ par- 
lor; he also made scores of inquiries in the tunnel 
leading to the Auditorium, and trailed through 
luxurious Peacock Alley, with its wonderful foun- 
tain and walls of Pompeiian-red. In short, he 
asked every man of respectable appearance if he 

had seen Senator A . He was about to return 

to the Coliseum, that he might inquire of the dele- 
gates in the Connecticut section, when he suddenly 
found himself quizzing a near-sighted politician 
reading a newspaper in the Congress lobby. 

“ Why do you want Senator A ? ” demanded 

the man rather irritably as he squinted over the 
top of his paper. 

Carl, already too weary to explain his business 
on such short acquaintance, replied guardedly but 
truthfully : “ I have a message for him.” 

“ You look as if you’d been chasing a lightning- 
bolt,” remarked the politician, suddenly grown 
sympathetic after removing his spectacles to get a 
clearer view of the flame-cheeked lad before him. 

“ I suppose I do look hot and mussed up,” laughed 


Carl Helps Ned 83 

Carl. Did you ever see such weather ? Tve 

hunted Senator A till I don’t believe such a 

man exists. Surely he isn’t much good, or some- 
body would happen to know him.” 

But you’re on the right track now,” encour- 
aged the politician. “ Senator A is one of the 

big men of the Convention; but he’s doing his best 
work in private. He’s pulling the wires to help 
somebody else, so there’s no reason why he should 
appear before the public. What does he care for 
the public now ? Nobody knows where he is except 
a few men in his ring; he stays in and drinks iced- 
tea and furnishes the brains, and the others run 
around in the heat and furnish the legs. I’m not 

very fond of Senator A ; he’s against all the 

policies I stand for. But he has power, and he 
knows how to pull his wires. But that’s no reason 
why a boy like you should half kill himself of fatigue 
trying to locate him — particularly on a hot day 
— it’s a shame ! Some of you messenger boys have 
a hard time of it. Now I happen to know that 

Senator A is in this very hotel — Room 41 1. 

I had a hard time finding it out — so don’t you 
tell.” 

“ But the clerk says he isn’t here,” argued Carl, 
knowing that clues are often misleading. 


84 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

'' He had to say that,” declared the man, with a 

knowing wink. “ Senator A — refuses to be seen 

by anybody outside of his little gang. He’s up in< 
his room this minute, making plans to stir the Con- 
vention inside out. Go right up and give him your 
message.’^ 

Carl thanked the near-sighted politician and hast- 
ened back to the hotel office where the clerks were 
experiencing the busiest hours of their lives. How 
should he approach the elusory Senator from Con- 
necticut ? He finally decided that he would send up 
his card. Then he grew dubious; for, although 
his name looked rather distinguished, it might ex- 
cite the suspicion of a great man trying to hide frorm 
the public. He wrote his name on a neat bit of 
card-board, nevertheless, and handed it to one of’ 
the clerks, all the time trying to look elderly and 
important. 

“ The Senator is very busy,” said the clerk, ob- 
viously surprised that the boy should know the 
exact number of that celebrity’s room. “ Perhaps 
you’d better be a little more to the point. Give him 
some idea what you want of him; otherwise, he’ll 
send down word that he isn’t at home.” 

Carl took back the card and wrote in a flourish- 
ing hand that spelled pride with every curve : 


85 


Carl Helps Ned 

“ New York Newspaper Reporter.” Then he said 
with such dignity that the clerk bowed respectfully : 
“ I guess that will give the Senator an inkling as to 
what I want. If youdl kindly send it up by a boy, 
ril wait over there in that big room — on that green- 
plush settee; I can’t possibly stand up a minute 
longer.” 

The clerk rang for a bell-boy and Carl strolled 
into the inner lobby, at that hour the most colorful 
place any boy could imagine. He wondered why 
the exterior of Chicago had to be so black and 
grimy, while within its spacious buildings every- 
thing was so clean and bright, so restful and luxu- 
rious. The fore part of this lobby was monopo- 
lized by women in beautiful gowns. Evidently 
they were the wives and daughters of prominent 
Conventioners ; they were gossiping together in 
little groups, but not so busily as the politicians 
at headquarters upstairs. Some of them were 
seated on velvet chairs and divans; most of them 
were carrying lorgnettes, flowers, or boxes of bon- 
bons; a few were parading about the room and 
occasionally looking into mirrors to see if their 
hats were on straight. Carl wished that his sis- 
ters were with him, to see those marvelous gowns 
and hear the music wafted from an adjoining apart- 


86 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ment by a dozen or more electric fans. He also 
made the discovery that people from all parts of 
the United States look very much the same when 
they are dressed for an occasion; for, by listening 
to the conversation, he learned the names of the 
more noticeable ladies and the states from which 
they hailed. It seemed to him that the prettiest 
one came from Vermont, the most cultivated one 
from Montana, and the best-dressed one from Kan- 
sas. 

There he sat on the comfortable green ' couch 
taking a fresh interest in life as he awaited the in- 
vitation to meet the distinguished senator from 
Connecticut. All the chairs in his vicinity were 
occupied by men who were gazing admiringly at 
the women in the foreground. But while he was 
getting a newspaper reporter’s mead of rest and 
thrills, a very pretty young woman, with flowers 
bobbing up and down on her wide-brimmed hat, 
took a seat beside him. She was evidently a lady 
accustomed to minding her own business — just 
like Bess. In fact, like all the girls of the Merry- 
maker family, she must have been brought up with 
boys, and had grown so much accustomed to them 
that she did not consider it any honor when men 
with bad manners persisted in staring at her. She 



n c 


THERE, TEDDY 


SNAP HER ! ’ ” 





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87 


Carl Helps Ned 

was a free American citizen and felt her right to 
be in public. No man could gaze her out of coun- 
tenance — just because she happened to be pretty 
and was wearing a very becoming hat and high 
heels. She was not thinking of anybody except a 
woman at whom she was gazing intently — a stout 
woman leaning against a pillar while she talked at 
the top of her speed with an old friend; she was 
also busily plying that kind of fan that refuses 
to stir the atmosphere, yet looks pretty when in 
motion. 

“There, Teddy — snap her!” cried the young 
lady at his side. “ Better snap her twice ; some 
of the films are no good.” 

Carl then saw a boy younger than himself taking 
pictures of the woman standing by the pillar and 
talking at the top of her speed ; she seemed serenely 
unconscious that she was being photographed. No 
wonder the girl at his side laughed, in such a way 
as to show her dimples and an array of white and 
regular teeth. 

“ I’ve been trying an hour to get that woman’s 
picture,” she said, as familiarly as if Carl had al- 
ways been one of her warmest friends. “ But it’s 
been a terrible task; she’s so active my caddy 
couldn’t get at her. She’s as restless as the chicken 


88 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

that ran about so much the farmer couldn’t count 
it.” 

‘‘ I hope I got at least one good snap,” said the 
little boy with the camera. I’m afraid there 
wasn’t light enough, and she wouldn’t hold her 
mouth still. And her big hat will make her face 
look black — and she was standing pigeon-toed a 
little.” 

“ Serves her right,” rippled the girl. “ When 
she sees herself in our newspaper to-night, she’ll 
be as put-out as a parrot in a rain-storm. And 
what will her husband say when he sees it — and 
all the people back in her home village ? ” 

“ Why did you want her picture ? ” asked Carl, 
his curiosity overleaping restraint. 

The girl looked leniently at him. Plainly, she 
was not averse to being asked questions. 

“ I’m a newspaper woman,” she said. “ Doubt- 
less, you’ve heard of me. Almost everybody has. 
I write under the name of Ethel Caldwell.” 

“ Ethel Caldwell ! ” cried Carl, thrilled with de- 
light at being self-introduced to such a celebrity. 
“ I read your column every evening — it’s splen- 
did — and so funny! Your picture always heads 
the column — and you look so stunning in full 
dress.” 


89 


Carl Helps Ned 

“ Yes, my picture is published every day,” ad- 
mitted Miss Caldwell with an amused laugh. ‘‘ You 
know, we are living in that newspaper era when 
the public likes to look at pictures of women — 
especially if they are young and good-looking. 
Most of the best newspaper women are getting 
along in years, so the newspapers print their old 
photographs — taken from ten to twenty years ago.” 

“ Indeed ! ” Carl felt that he was learning an- 
other trick of the trade from one of its ablest mas- 
ters. 

“ And every day we are looking for the pictures 
of good-looking women to illustrate our newspaper 
stories,” went on Miss Caldwell. “ So long as 
women are the vainest creatures in the world, so 
long will newspapers continue to publish their pic- 
tures. But most of the men are just as anxious to 
see their likenesses in the papers — only the public 
isn’t so much interested in them. Men look too 
much alike. They have the same set expression of 
countenance in pictures, the same stolid dignity, the 
same kind of clothes. They’re as much alike as the 
straw hats they wear.” 

Carl was not sufficiently experienced to attempt 
an argument with such a well-posted young woman, 
so he remained silent and continued gazing at her 


90 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

intently. He wished, however, that Jack Gore were 
present to prolong the animated conversation. The 
results would be more comical than anything one 
could possibly hear over the foot-lights. 

I tried my best to get her to loan me her photo- 
graph this morning,” continued Miss Caldwell, 
pointing at the woman who had just been snapped. 
“ You know, of course, that it’s the custom for the 
wives of celebrated men to carry their photographs 
around with them to conventions or wherever they 
go. In fact, a great many of these women would 
pay a goo,d price to get their pictures published. 
But that woman — the wife of a New York Con- 
gressman — actually abused me when I asked for 
her photograph. She said she would rather die 
than see her face in the paper — and I don’t blame 
her; she’ll never take a prize at a beauty contest. 
So I’ve followed her around till I’m almost ex- 
hausted; I’ve wasted hours trying to get a good 
snap-shot. When I finally caught her in the most 
ungraceful position a woman could hold in public, 
I had niy caddy snap her. There’ll be a nice sur- 
prise for her when the evening edition is out.” 

Miss Caldwell, with a sigh of satisfaction, busied 
herself in tucking some loose papers into a portfolio 
already congested with photographs of ladies in 


91 


Carl Helps Ned 

full dress. “ It always pays/' she added, “ never 
to refuse your photograph to any newspaper that 
asks you for it. If you do, they’ll have you 
hounded and snap-shotted — and you’re likely to 
die from the shock.” 

At that moment a colored bell-boy approached 
Carl ; he was bearing a silver tray containing a card. 
“ The gentleman is not seeing reporters,” he an- 
nounced as he hastily withdrew, leaving Carl hold- 
ing the card he had sent up to Senator A . 

Miss Caldwell glanced at the card. “ Pardon 
me — but are you a young reporter ? ” she asked, 
suddenly growing more interested in him. 

“ I’m helping my brother a little — that is, I’m 
trying to. He’s reporting the Convention for a 
New York newspaper. He sent me over to inter- 
view Senator A from Connecticut.” 

“ Oh, I see — you’re new at the business.” The 
young lady looked at him kindly, though amused. 
“ You’ll learn to use your wit some day. Every- 
body knows that Senator A — wouldn’t see the great- 
est reporter in the world — not even Irvin Cobb. 
Why were you so stupid as to let him know that 
you are a reporter ? ” 

“ The clerk told me to explain my business,” said 
Carl helplessly. 


92 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ I dare say you frightened the poor senator out 
of the last ten years of his life,” chuckled Miss 
Caldwell. He’s probably hiding under his bed. 
He’s one of the few men that doesn’t want to be 
interviewed.” 

Carl gazed appealingly at the speaker. “ But 
how else could I have worked it ? ” he inquired. 

“ Whenever you are in doubt as to how a notable 
is going to act about being interviewed, don’t bother 
to send up your card and give him a chance to run 
away. Go right to his room — or wherever he is 
— and walk right up to him. If he’s behind a 
locked door, just wait patiently outside till some- 
body comes along with a pitcher of ice-water or 
something. Then step right in and confront him. 
It looks impudent — no wonder you blush — but 
it has to be done. Remember, you are after your 
story, and you can’t afford to displease your manag- 
ing editor and perhaps lose your job. Think of how 
I persisted in following that woman all day — just 
to get a snap-shot of her when she didn’t know 
it. It takes the patience of Ruth’s mother-in-law; 
and it’s the hardest thing in the world to have 
patience when you must get a story for an early 
edition and haven’t much time. But Patience and 
Persistence are the heavenly twins that place the 


Carl Helps Ned 93 

aspiring reporter in the shoes of the Managing 
Editor.” 

I’m going to try it again,” flared Carl. “ I’m 
not used to being turned down that way — espe- 
cially when I’m helping Ned.” 

That’s a plucky boy,” eulogized Miss Caldwell. 

I hope you’ll succeed. I’ll see you later, for I’m 
going to be in this lobby the rest of the day. I 
have to get a story a yard long, but I’m not dis- 
couraged.” 

Carl again buckled on his armor and set forth 
to beard the Connecticut lion in his den. But after 
a long and discouraging wait, he was compelled tp 
suffer a still greater disappointment. Knowing the 
persistence of young reporters, it was obvious that 
the renowned Senator had forsaken his room for 
the remainder of the day. Though the lad knocked 
at the door of 41 1 till his knuckles tingled, and 
waited in the hall till he had to lean against the walls 
for support, he received no reward for his per- 
sistence. As Miss Caldwell had suggested. Senator 
A was undoubtedly hiding under his bed. 

At four o’clock he found himself back in the 
hotel office comparing notes with Gath Singleton, 
who had just come in — hot, tired, and bearishly 
cross. Evidently Gath had been sorely pressed, to 


94 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

such an extent that he had formed a most unfavor- 
able opinion of the Congressman from Ohio. 

Did you get him ? asked Carl, following Gath 
to a far corner where they both languidly sank 
down upon a leather lounge. 

“ Did I get him ! ” Gath was so comically in- 
dignant that, to save his life, Carl could not keep 
back his laughter. You’ve treated me outrage- 
ously,” Gath went on disgustedly. You sent me 
out to interview the meanest man of the Conven- 
tion.” 

“ No, I didn’t,” denied Carl. Jack Gore said 
the hardest one to handle is the Senator from Iowa.” 

^‘Well, if he’s any worse than the one I met, 
he’s a wild boar,” ranted Gath. “ First, I went to 

the Convention to find Congressman G . He 

wasn’t there. Some guy in the Ohio section said 
I was sure to find him at the Blackstone; so I 
went over there. His Majesty was not registered 
there. Went back to headquarters. Couldn’t get 
any clue of him. So I started out to go the rounds 
of the other leading hotels. He wasn’t at the La 
Salle. No one there had ever heard of him. Went 
to the Sherman — but nothing doing. Tried the 
Great Northern. A man by that name was staying 
there. He was way up — on the twenty-first floor. 


Carl Helps Ned 95 

I believe. Took an elevator and routed the man 
out. He wasn’t the one I was after. Then I 
tried the Brevoort, but with no success. At last 
I came back to headquarters. There I got a tip 
that he was putting up at the University Club. 
Went over there. On the way I met some people 
I knew, and stopped to exchange a sentence or 
two. Then I forgot the Congressman’s name. To 
save my neck, I couldn’t remember it! Went back 
to headquarters and got it, after a row with a surly 
clerk. Went back to the University Club and found 
that the Congressman had checked out and was at 
the Hotel Morrison. I chased over there — found 
him in Room 1217. Knocked at the door and was 
admitted. Slipped on a rug and fell sprawling at 
the Congressman’s feet.” 

“ You saw him! ” cried Carl, beside himself with 
curiosity. 

I should say I did.” Gath glared reproach- 
fully at his companion. “ Of course, I saw him 
when I got up. He yelled like an Indian when 
I fell on his feet. We were both scared — ” 

“ Such a ridiculous situation ! ” Carl wanted to 
roar, but one glance at his irate friend warned him 
that it was better to remain respectfully quiet. 

He took me for a pickpocket or a bandit,” Gath 


96 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

rambled on. Called me a thief, an upstart, a fresh 
imposter, and other names you wouldn’t expect a 
learned senator to use. I' didn’t have time to say 
a word — not a word. Before I knew it, he took 
me by the collar and threw me out in the hall. I 
picked myself up and ran down ten flights of stairs. 
I’ll get even with that fellow, I tell you ! The very 
idea of treating me that way — and my great- 
grandfather one of the first settlers in Chicago ! ” 

“Yet I suppose the Senator can hardly be 
blamed,” dared Carl, able to see the point of view 
that eminent statesman must have held. “ You 
should have explained that you were a reporter as 
soon as you stepped inside the room.” 

“ But I didn’t step inside — I slid in, I tell you ! ” 
Gath impatiently tossed about in the spell of what 
he termed Carl’s stupidity. 

“ That’s so,” was the sympathetic admission. “ I 
think you acted all right, from the newspaper stand- 
point — up to the time you slipped. There are so 
many things to watch during these interviewing 
games. For one thing, they say it’s very neces- 
sary for a reporter to make a graceful entrance. 
First appearances are everything.” 

“ Oh, I’ve learned that,” sputtered Gath. “ But 
I’m not keen to learn the newspaper profession — 


Cart Helps Ned 97 

after the way Pve been running around for several 
hours. It’s a wonder I’m here to tell you about it. 
I feel like a caged squirrel sea-sick from turning 
around in a wheel he can’t stop.” 

Carl sat silent for at least a minute. Reporting 
was no easy task; yet it had some sort of lure about 
it — something adventurous that was beneficial to 
a boy actuated by a firm purpose. “ Well, don’t 
take it to heart,” he advised. “ I failed on my as- 
signment, too. Senator A was hiding under 

his bed, I think. Didn’t get half as close to my 
interview as you did yours.” 

“ That’s no consolation to me,” snapped Gath. 
“ Now how would you feel if you were just getting 
ready to take a big bite out of a red apple, and Fate 
knocked the apple out of your reach? Wouldn’t 
you feel too green for words?” 

Carl admitted that he would; yet he thought 
there would be some consolation in having had a 
peek at the apple. 

“ Your family always seem to get something out 
of every downright calamity,” growled Gath. “ I 
honestly believe if you lost your right arm, Carl, 
you’d jump up and wave the other and make a 
big hurrah because you hadn’t lost both of ’em. 
Or if a blue-racer took after you and scared you 


98 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

nearly to death, you’d remember what a pretty color 
it was. But ril get even with that Ohio poten- 
tate — ” 

At this stage Carl capitulated to his besieging 
desire to laugh; and Gath joined in before he could 
devise some fitting punishment for the famous repre- 
sentative of the Buckeye State. I’ll make a propo- 
sition,” Carl went on with difficulty. “ Let’s tackle 
the third one together. Possibly both of us together 
can land the Senator from Iowa. It may turn out 
to be a great lark.” 

Then Miss Ethel Caldwell came through the hotel 
office. She was very busy, and her “ caddy ” with 
his camera was following her with the persistence 
of a shadow on a sunny day. She espied Carl and 
advanced to speak to him. 

“ I’m glad to see you once more,” he said as 
he rose respectfully. The young woman seemed 
equally pleased; for it is one of the amenities of 
the newspaper game when a reporter meets a per- 
son who is disinterestedly civil. “ I want you tc 
know my friend, Mr. Singleton. He lives here 
in Chicago.” 

Miss Caldwell had heard of the Singletons, and 
knew all their neighbors. During the few min- 
utes she talked, the boys decided that she had met 


99 


Carl Helps Ned 

everybody worth while, including all the notable 
people of the Convention. 

“ Perhaps you know Senator V of Iowa,” 

interrupted Carl. “ Jack Gore says he’s a very dis- 
agreeable man to meet, so Gath and I thought we’d 
tackle him together.” 

“ You’re very wise in being cautious,” laughed 
Miss Caldwell. ” Fortunately I happen to know 
where he is; I’ve just been talking to his wife, and 
she gave me her address. It’s extremely likely that 
she and her husband are staying at the same place. 
Room 318, Palmer House. Go ahead, Mr. Merry- 
maker, and keep your nerve. Senator V hates 

to have reporters breaking in upon his privacy — 
so his wife said. No one in Chicago knows where 
he is except myself ; but it’s no harm to tell a repre- 
sentative of an outside paper. The truth is, the 
senator does not interest me in the least. My work 
has been with his wife, who has one of the biggest 
collections of butterflies in the United States.” 

When Miss Caldwell had gone, Gath gave a 
whistle of surprise and stared admiringly at Carl. 
‘‘How did you get acquainted with her?” he 
quizzed. 

“ Oh, you know how journalists are always meet- 
ing one another,” responded Carl, as indifferently 


100 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

as though he were accustomed to meeting such bril- 
liant people as Miss Caldwell every day of his life. 
“ We got to talking over our work this morning 
in the lobby ; she gave me one or two good pointers.” 

She’s a famous writer,” declared Gath. 

Sometimes she can get the story of a big robbery 
or murder when all the other reporters fail. You 
see, being a woman, she goes right into a house of 
mourning and weeps with the family — finds out 
everything there is to know, while the men reporters 
line up outside. Moreover, she’s sincere in her 
grief, too, and always wants to do the right thing 
if it doesn’t interfere with her story. And she 
supports her mother and some younger brothers 
and sisters. The newspaper people all say she’s 
square; she helps everybody and does a great deal 
of good. You were lucky to meet her, Carl.” 

“ I knew she was no ordinary girl as soon as I 
clapped my eyes on her,” boasted Carl. “ Yet I 
believe Marje would make just as good a lady re- 
porter. She’s tactful and conscientious, and a 
whirlwind of energy. As for me — I don’t believe 
I have the gift — as Ned and Marje have. I'm 
not quick enough. I love to study a crowd; but I 
haven’t any nose for news, and I hate to pry into 
people’s business. I wouldn’t be on this assign- 


Carl Helps Ned 101 

merit if I hadn’t wanted to help Ned; he’s so over- 
worked.” 

“ But we’ve made a botch of it thus far,” 
grumbled Gath ; howbeit, he smiled humorously. 
“ Now let’s nail that Senator from Iowa and have 
it over with. Then I never want to see another 
politician or newspaper reporter — they make me 
nervous. It’s lucky Miss Caldwell happened along 

and told us where to find Senator V , otherwise 

we’d have another long hunt.” 

In less than a quarter of an hour they had lo- 
cated the Iowa senator at the Palmer House and 
were awaiting a response to their knock at his door. 

“If he gets abusive, stand your ground,” Gath 
whispered excitedly. “ Don’t budge a foot unless 
he kicks you out and you can’t help yourself. 
Above all, don’t start in by giving him one of those 
rare smiles you always carry around with you. 
Pie’s a bear — so look serious; better look severe.” 

“ I’m ready for him,” returned Carl, immediately 
taking Gath’s advice to look severe. “ He’ll order 
me right away, I suppose — but I won’t go. Now 
be sure to make an impressive entrance — and watch 
out for rugs.” 

“If he dares to lay a hand on either of us. I’ll 
not be responsible for what I do,” threatened Gath, 


102 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

so loudly that Carl made an impatient gesture in 
order to restrain him. 

“ Tve thought over everything Fm going to say/' 
assured Carl. “ Be ready to walk right in when 
he opens the door.” 

It was not surprising that the Iowa Senator looked 
mystified when two very aggressive-looking lads 
stepped into his presence a moment later, though he 
seemed to understand that their stern faces were 
intended simply to assure him that they were ca- 
pable of protecting themselves. Be that as it may, 
the Senator was one of the most civil personages they 
had ever met; both his voice and his manner were 
symbols of the highest type of good breeding. 

“Won’t you sit down, boys?” they heard him 
say as he actually moved the best chairs into com- 
fortable positions by the open window. The lads 
sat down, not any too gracefully. At once they 
saw that their preparations to bully him were of 
no avail; but they were too much inexperienced to 
know just what to do after finding that they must 
adopt more genial tactics. Tliey cringed when the 
great celebrity continued in a voice as smooth and 
silvery as Iowa corn-silk : “ What can I do for 

you? I was taking my nap before dinner.” 

This announcement rendered the boys still more 


103 


Carl Helps Ned 

■helpless, inasmuch as they could not understand 
why such a great man could speak of an interrupted 
nap with such placidity. ‘‘We — we are very 
sorry we disturbed you,” began Carl, moving rest- 
lessly in his big velvet chair. 

As for Gath he could say nothing. He sat 
a few paces behind Carl, all the time gazing at 
the startling design in the middle of the Turkish 
rug. 

“ We’re doing a little newspaper work,” squeaked 
Carl, forgetting to use his deeper tones; conse- 
quently he blushed and began to flounder. 

“Where are your badges?” pleasantly inquired 
the Senator. 

“ We’re just helping my brother Ned; he’s a cor- 
respondent for a New York paper,” lamely ex- 
plained Carl. “ He’s swamped with the minutes 
of the Convention, so I’m helping him out on some 
interviews. He — he thought it would be a good 
thing for me to meet such noted men.” 

“ That is very kind of you,” said the senator, so 
forbearingly that Carl longed either to jump out 
of the window or, if possible, to disappear like a 
coil of cigarette smoke. “ Always be kind to your 
brother, my boy,” softly added the speaker. At 
this remark Gath coughed nervously. 


104 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ rd like very much to have a little talk with 
you,” Carl went on appealingly. 

“What shall we talk about? Proceed to ques- 
tion me.” 

But the situation was made all the more unbear- 
able to Carl when the Senator passed him a plate 
of red bananas. Each boy took one and held it 
with unprecedented awkwardness while the re- 
nowned gentleman continued : “ Shall we converse 

upon Political Economy, Ethics, Philosophy, An- 
thropology, or International Diplomacy ? ” 

“I — I think we’d better stick to politics,” weakly 
suggested Carl. 

“ I couldn’t do that,” replied the Senator with 
excessive modesty. Then he lighted a cigar and 
began smoking, the while smiling upon his young 
visitors as if they were some very near and un- 
expected relatives from a distant destination. “ I 
don’t like to talk about my business. That is why 
I did not let anybody know where I am staying. 
Nobody knows except my dear wife — and she is 
too honorable to tell. Many politicians try so hard 
to get into print — but I don’t approve of it.” 

Then to their greater mystification the Senator 
began to air a topic neither of them had ever heard 
discussed; furthermore, he made use of words un- 


105 


Carl Helps Ned 

known to their vocabularies, though they had both 
been well grounded in English Composition and 
General History. This was especially hard to en- 
dure ; already they were exhausted from the violent 
exertion they had undergone while locating the 
other two celebrities ; then too, the air was hot and 
stifling, the noise from the street distracting, and 
the smoke from the Senator’s cigar decidedly nau- 
seating. What did they know about Hassam Aga 
and Hayridden, Horic and Selim Entim; or what 
purpose the Senator had in using such shocking 
names to illustrate the precepts he was expounding ? 
Carl shifted uneasily in his chair; but the Senator 
went on, now and then extending his arms appeal- 
ingly to the wash-stand he seemed to be addressing. 
Never before had the lad been subjected to such a 
flood of eloquence. 

A snort fro mi Gath caused Carl to jump as 
though a bomb had been hurled through the window. 
To his horror he found that his friend had sud- 
denly fallen asleep, only to be awakened by his 
own snoring. Yet the senator, oblivious to all save 
his inspired oratory, rambled on to the end. 

When he had come out of his trance, his eyes 
danced triumphantly as he announced : That is 

the address I am going to make at the Coliseum, 


106 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

near the close of the Convention. IVe been work- 
ing on it for days. I hope you liked it; it’s sure 
to arouse the people as no other address has ever 
done.” 

“ Your address! ” cried Carl, thoroughly aghast. 
- I _ I 

No doubt you are surprised that I should give 
you every word of it; but I knew it would be good 
practice for me — and at the same time it would 
help you to get some news. Every reporter in Chi- 
cago would give his day’s pay to have only a few 
sentences of it. But you heard it all, my boy; and 
you were a very patient and attentive little audi- 
ence.” 

Can’t I have a copy of the address to take along 
with me?” begged Carl. ‘‘Brother Ned will be 
delighted to have it.” 

“ I dare say he would,” said the Senator with a 
provoking smile. “ But I haven’t a copy of it. It 
all came right out of my head. I hope you won’t 
forget a word of it, or report me inaccurately. 
Learn always to stick to the truth, my boy.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” stammered Carl, just as a 
distant clodk struck six. “You — you were very 
kind.” 

“ Don’t mention it, my boy. Good-by and good 


Carl Helps Ned 107 

luck to you.’^ Then the Senator with the tenderness 
of a doting mother ushered his unprotesting guests 
into the hall and shut the door upon them. 

“ Well, wouldn’t that melt your heart ! ” muttered 
Gath as they beat their hasty retreat. “ What was 
the guy talking about?” 

“ Why didn’t you keep your ears open — instead 
of going to sleep?” fumed Carl, as yet unable to 
see any humor in this crowning predicament of 
the day. 

“ Search me,” said Gath indifferently as he con- 
tinued down the stairs as swiftly as if the Senator 
were after him to deliver him another address. “ I 
thought the poor old man was suffering from the 
heat till he got up and said it was the speech he 
intends to give at the Coliseum — the big speech 
of the Convention. I think I made my entrance 
fairly well, but I forgot to concentrate my mind. 
And I don’t remember a thing he said except that 
it’s easier for a goose to crawl through a crack in 
a rail fence than to fly over it. Seems to me any 
goose ought to know that much.” 

“We’re failures — both of us!” cried Carl in 
desperation. 

“ At any rate I didn’t slip on his rug — like I 
did when I rushed at the Ohio Senator,” laughed 


108 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Gath. “ Besides, each of us got a banana from 
him. Fm going to put mine in my curio collec- 
tion.” 

‘‘ Don’t ever mention bananas again,” irritably 
protested Carl; “I hate the sight of ’em.” 

When Carl arrived at his aunt’s apartment, he 
found the family at dinner. Jack Gore was pres- 
ent; and everything would have been as merry as 
the component parts of a festival, had it not been 
for the fact that they were all worrying about his 
absence. So, under the circumstances, it was but 
natural that the entire household should rush at him 
when he came straggling in. Ned reprimanded 
him for working so hard, Marje congratulated him 
for having escaped a sun-stroke, and Jean said she 
had prayed that a truck might not have hit him; 
Rex was overjoyed at the thought of having him 
back, and Aunt Esther furnished the clever balance 
for all the excitement by quietly remarking that 
she hoped his dinner was not spoiled. 

“Oh, Carl dear, where have you been?” Marje 
insisted. 

“ Helping Jack Gore report the Convention,” was 
the dogged reply. “ This reporter business is no 
easy job.” 


109 


Carl Helps Ned 

** And did you get some nice interviews from 
those notable politicians we sent you after? ” asked 
Jack Gore, so tantalizingly that Carl’s tired eyes be- 
gan to glow dangerously. 

‘‘ No, I didn’t get any interviews,” confessed the 
boy, suffering still more the pangs that always follow 
defeat. “ It took all our time to find where they’re 
hiding themselves. I don’t think much of ’em.” 

“Where are they?” Ned asked eagerly. 

“ Senator A is in Room 411 at the Congress 

Hotel — hiding under the bed ; Congressman G 

is in Room 1217 at the Hotel Morrison, and Senator 
V in Room 318 at the Palmer House.” 

“ Smooth work — capital ! ” screeched Jack Gore, 
to Carl’s infinite amazement. “ That boy surely 
has the newspaper instinct; he’ll make a marvelous 
reporter. Why, Ned and I have tried three days 
to find where those three shy birds are roosting 
— but we were unable to locate ’em ! None of the 
Chicago reporters have run ’em down so far — and 
Chicago is a big place to search. After dinner, 
Ned, we must get on our bonnets and give them a 
call. We’ll get some news worth while, and have 
the Convention stirred to the limit. Carl, you’re a 
big sensation! How on earth did you manage to 
find ’^m ? ’’ 


110 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Oh, I can’t tell you the whole story now,” Carl 
answered rather feebly, as he sat down to Marje’s 
steaming pot-pie. “ Gath Singleton and that Miss 
Caldwell helped me; I don’t deserve all the credit.” 

“ But you do” insisted Ned, giving his brother’s 
limp hand a demonstrative shake; while Jean, real- 
izing only that Carl had distinguished himself, 
showed sisterly approval by running over to him 
and imprinting a resounding kiss on his chin. 
“ You’re persistent, Carl — and you’ve worked hard, 
no matter what you say,” resumed Ned. “ Now 
that you’ve found where those three human ma- 
chines are hidden — those three unseen forces of 
this mighty Convention — Jack and I will do the 
rest. We’d have failed utterly if it hadn’t been for 
you.” 

“ Ned,” warned Carl, as the two regular re- 
porters rose to pursue their round through Chi- 
cago’s hotel district, “ it might be well for you 
to take the Senator from Iowa some bananas; he 
prefers the red ones. And perhaps you can get 
him to recite the address he’s going to spring on 
the Convention in a day or two — so you’ll get it 
in advance of the other newspapers. And when 
you go into the room of the Ohio Senator, watch 
out for the rug; it slips terribly.” 


CHAPTER IV 


A BUSY DAY FOR AUNT ESTFIER 

Bordering Lake Michigan and almost smoth- 
ered by other northerly suburbs of Chicago is a 
beautiful village, which, for the sake of discretion, 
shall be chronicled herein as Andover — simply for 
the reason that its actual name is more unlike 
Andover than any other to be found in the tele- 
phone directory. Inasmuch as the main incidents 
of this episode are true, it would not be tactful to 
designate this suburb accurately, nor to mention 
the name of its leading minister of the gospel, who, 
for the present, shall be known as Dr. Vane. 

Aunt Esther Fortune had formerly lived m 
Andover; and because of her loyalty to Dr. and 
Mrs. Vane had kept up membership in their church, 
despite the fact that she attended it only three or 
four times a year. It was a duty call that sum- 
moned her to this village on the day following Carl’s 
success in cornering three of the biggest and most 
secretive men of the Convention, thus enabling Jack 
Gore and Ned to get some very important news^ 
111 


112 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

including the entire speech of the Iowa Senator. 
Consequently, Carl felt that his perplexing work 
had been rewarded, and again he realized that the 
darkest and most discouraging hour sometimes 
ushers in a glorious dawn. 

He was sitting with the chauffeur, while Mrs. 
Fortune and the younger Merrymakers were snugly 
fitting the other seats of the motor-car. Though 
the main part of Chicago was sweltering in the 
hot sun, the charming suburb of Andover was be- 
ing fanned by a lake breeze; and as they more 
deeply penetrated its circling thoroughfares, he ob- 
served that the lawns and trees were not grayish- 
green with dust as they were along Grand Boule- 
vard. Indeed Carl was delighted with the Fairy- 
land at that moment opening up to him, though the 
chauffeur insisted that Andover was no more at- 
tractive than at least a dozen other suburbs for 
which the Windy City is celebrated. His brothers 
,and sisters were also pleased with their surround- 
ings; Marje called attention to the picturesque old 
homes and the modish new bungalows ; Jean thought 
the fountains and the green waste-paper baskets 
that adorned each street-comer “ perfectly darling.’’ 
Truly their happiness would have been complete if 
Ned had b^en with them; yet it was consoling to 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 113 

know that he would join them at dinner, and that 
Jack Gore was to furnish the ice-cream. 

Mrs. Fassett will be alarmed when she sees 
what a big family you have, Aunt Esther,” laughed 
Marje. “ She might think we expect to stay for 
dinner, and you know how people detest strange 
guests during hot weather.” 

“ She’ll be delighted to have you,” assured Mrs. 
Fortune. “ Mrs. Fassett is a typical Chicago 
mother; she’s used to entertaining, and she’s nice 
to strangers. Of course, for certain reasons she’s 
eager to meet Carl, though I haven’t told him ex- 
actly what she wants him to do. You can take 
Jean and Rex out in the pergola, if you like, and 
get acquainted with Mrs. Fassett’s delightful daugh- 
ters. Nell Fassett is about your age, and I imagine 
Agnes is a year or two younger.” 

‘‘ There surely is a load of us,” remarked Jean, 
“ with all these bundles you’re taking to the pastor 
and his family. It’s a wonder our car doesn’t col- 
lapse.” 

“ The heavier the load, the easier the car runs,” 
sang out Mrs. Fortune, who was rapidly outgrowing 
her headaches and learning to discriminate between 
distracting sounds and the happy noises of the home- 
grown variety. 


114 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ And the bigger the family, the easier it gets 
along,” said Marje without an iota of doubt. 

Mrs. Fortune remarked that everything depended 
on the kind of family, yet at the time she thought 
the Merrymakers got along exceedingly well, con- 
sidering that its members were boys and girls rang- 
ing all the way from young childhood to practical 
man and womanhood. But her words were cut 
short by the appearance of the old Fassett mansion 
— a solid brick structure with a cupola ; it was al- 
most entirely screened from public view by trees 
and shrubbery, dark green against a rolling lawn. 

“ What a home-like old building ! ” exclaimed 
Marje. “And look at the stone steps leading up 
to the big piazza — and the clematis vines and 
trumpet buds ! ” 

“ Wouldn’t it be a fine place to play hidy-whoop 
in, on a rainy day ? ” cried Rex, equally enthusiastic. 

“ And it has an attic with little round windows 
all around the house,” quoth Jean. “ Fve always 
wanted an attic to play in — and a cupola.” 

But before they could spin out their original 
comments, the front door of the mansion opened 
and Mrs. Fassett appeared — a woman of fifty, 
perhaps, with that rosy and wholesome complexion 
which seems to thrive in the vicinity of the Great 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 115 

Lakes. All the children approved of her at sight, 
Marje and Jean as usual wishing that they had a 
mother exactly like her. 

“ I’m so glad to see you, Mrs. Fortune,’’ she 
greeted as she grasped her lady visitor by the hand 
and led her into a great hall with a screened fire- 
place at its far end. Then Aunt Esther introduced 
her young companions to their hostess, and that 
good lady presented them all to her two pretty 
daughters. The Merrymaker girls were delighted 
— suspecting, as they did, that there would be a 
party out in the pergola, to say nothing of lemon- 
ade and cakes. 

And this is Mr. Carl Merrymaker,” repeated 
Mrs. Fassett as she shook the boy’s hand with great 
cordiality. Your aunt seems to think you a very 
remarkable young man.” 

But before Carl had time to stammer his thanks 
and to assure the gracious stranger that his aunt 
had over-rated him, Mrs. Fortune set him at ease 
by saying: “Of course, any aunt is apt to think 
a dutiful nephew remarkable in every way, whether 
or not he is. At any rate, Carl is a considerate 
boy — and full of mischief ; though he doesn’t make 
so much noise as this little cyclone. Surely Rex 
is a whole houseful most of the time.” 


116 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

‘'Agnes, take the children out to the frog-pond,’^ 
Mrs. Fassett instructed her younger daughter, a 
red-cheeked lass with a wealth of shining hair. “ It 
would be a shame to keep that dear little boy penned 
up in my drawing-room on such a lovely day. Nell, 
take Miss Marjorie in to meet the ladies; then you 
can go out to the tennis court. But Mr. Carl is my 
prisoner.” She turned smilingly towards him and 
laid a detaining hand on his arm as she continued : 
“ We want your best suggestions this afternoon. 
Your aunt says you are very expert in planning 
events and carrying them through to a successful 
finish.” 

This eulogy abashed Carl all the more, yet he 
gallantly replied : “ I’ll do my best, Mrs. Fassett, 

though I don’t know just what you want me to do. 
My brother Ned is far more clever; he’s reporting 
the big Convention.” 

By this time Mrs. Fassett had led him into the 
drawing-room where three ladies were seated in a 
row on a horse-hair sofa; they were talking to his 
aunt, who had preceded him into the apartment and 
was making herself at home. Carl soon found him- 
self being introduced with that rather uncomfortable 
pompousness that attends the presentation of a great 
celebrity to a very ordinary public. There was 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 117 

Mrs. Vane, the pastor’s wife, a nice little body of 
the gray mouse variety ; she had bright eyes, midget 
hands and feet, and rather mincing ways. Then 
there were two other women whose names he im- 
mediately forgot; one of these was tall and thin, 
the other short and plump. He paid most of his 
attention to Mrs. Vane, however, inasmuch as she 
was the minister’s wife and deserved all the cour- 
tesy due her from the only man present. 

Between words he had a chance to observe that 
this home-like drawing-room was not so elegant 
as that of his aunt; yet it seemed to have the com- 
fortable atmosphere characterizing a home lived in 
by an interesting family, and presided over by a 
person with strong and individual personality. It 
was not a place destined for show; its carpet was 
too badly worn in spots, and the handsome old 
chairs had been too much battered with constant 
usage. Yet he felt strangely rested before he had 
sat there long in that abode of a happy family — 
an abode that could not easily be mistaken for an 
art gallery, a furniture store, or an undertaker’s 
chapel. 

He wondered if he were attending one of those 
mothers’ meetings Bess so often had spoken of in 
such bitter terms — especially on a hot day when 


118 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

everybody was cross and one or two unmarried 
women insisted upon having their own way. His 
reflections were cut short, however, when his aunt 
said with touching confidence : “ Fve told my 

nephew, Carl Merrymaker, about the committee 
meeting we are to hold here to-day; but I didn’t 
have an opportunity to explain it to him thoroughly. 
I’ve enlightened him as to how our Home Mission- 
ary Society is divided into three sections, for the 
reason that this town has three wards; he also 
knows that I belong to the third ward, and that it 
is our duty to do something in order to raise money 
for improving the parsonage — but that’s all I’ve 
told him. He doesn’t know that we’ve racked our 
brains till our heads ache, but we can’t think of 
a thing to do that will interest our church members 
and raise the necessary funds. So I brought him 
along — to talk things over with our committee. If 
he fails me, it will be the first time; for he’s the 
brightest boy to think up things, I ever saw. You 
should have heard about the way he helped his 
brother at the Republican Convention yesterday — ” 
“Please, Aunt Esther — don’t,” begged the boy, 
beginning to perspire. “ I can’t do anything worth 
while — but I can help. And if ever^^body in this 
third ward helps — ” 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 119 

Good! ” voiced the pastor's wife, alarming Carl 
still more by patting him approvingly on the shoul- 
der. “ If all our church members were like Mr. 
Carl, the poor minister and his wife would find it 
smoother sailing. The world is so full of shirkers.” 

“ But whatever we do, we must be quick about 
it ; we have less than a week to make good,” incited 
Mrs. Fassett, stopping her rocker long enough to 
speak for the cause. “ We must get to work im- 
mediately; we have at least two hundred dollars to 
raise. I hope we can accumulate more money than 
the first and second wards put together; Fm sure 
I’ll do everything in my power to get ahead of 
them.” 

The other ladies said they would be willing to 
work as hard as Mrs. Fassett, Mrs. Fortune adding 
that she would set all the Merrymakers to work, 
for the reason that they never were so well amused 
as when they were doing something useful. 

“ Did you ever give an ice-cream social ? ” asked 
Marje, who with Nell Fassett had risen to go out 
in the cool grounds back of the mansion. ‘‘ Mrs. 
Fassett has such a beautiful lawn, and so many 
lovely trees to hang Japanese lanterns in.” 

Don’t mention ice-cream socials!” exclaimed 
the plump and pretty woman named Little. 


120 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

WeVe served enough ice-cream and strawberries 
to keep Chicago in rations for a month. And we’ve 
baked tons of cakes and daubed them over with 
barrels of frosting — ” 

“ And served all kinds of meals, even to griddle- 
cakes in pie-pans and coffee in tin-cups,” interrupted 
Mrs. Sparks, an entirely different type of woman 
— one tall, thin, and not so pleasant of countenance. 
From her attitude Carl judged that she was one 
of the dray-horses of the church; she looked so 
capable, yet so over-worked and suspicious. 

We’ve had tag-days, rummage sales, and church 
fairs — everything that seemed appropriate, in 
fact,” went on Mrs. Fassett. Now we want some- 
thing different — something new; and we want to 
make the other wards feel that they’ll have to hustle 
to get ahead of us.” 

“ In other words, you want to knock their eye 
out,” waggishly interposed Carl. 

‘‘ Indeed, we do,” laughed the pastor’s wife. ‘‘ I 
live in the third ward, and my family is outgrowing 
the parsonage. We want an addition built on, and 
we’ve been a year trying to raise the money. It 
seems that it will never be built, so long as people 
give nickels to home missions and dimes to the 
movies.” 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 121 

Obviously the minister’s wife had a way of speak- 
ing her own mind. Carl admired her immensely ; he 
understood what her feelings must be at this critical 
hour when her ward had run out of ideas as to 
how to raise money for the purpose of affording 
her two extra bedrooms and a newly shingled roof. 

“ I think the main trouble is our inability to get 
the members of the church interested,” sighed the 
thin lady named Sparks. 

“ True, my dear,” endorsed the plump lady. ** A 
few of us work till our hands are blistered — just 
to get up amusements to please the public; and at 
the last minute — when we are all fagged out — 
we have to go out and coax people to come in and 
patronize us. There doesn't seem to be any money 
in anything we do. We give suppers for twenty- 
five cents apiece, and everybody that comes eats 
fifty cents worth or more. What is left over, we 
give to the poor. I ask you — what money is 
there in that kind of business? ” 

Carl was much interested in this discussion per- 
taining to the workings of the local church. He had 
been trained to see from viewpoints not his own ; 
so it did not take him long to discover that these 
sisters in distress needed advice, though a boy of 
his age might not be able to help them very much. 


122 The Merryinahers in Chicago 

He felt compassion for this third ward committee; 
and when one is interested in others, some oppor- 
tunity of rendering them assistance is usually af- 
forded. But what could he suggest? No idea 
seemed to come to him — possibly because, by this 
time, all the committee were talking at once, no 
two of them agreeing in their opinions. 

“ Fm tired to death of the way we have to feed 
people — and try to get them to thinking they are 
having a good time, just to help along a worthy 
cause,” fumed the plump lady with the double chin. 
Still, Carl could see that she was one willing to 
work her fingers off — growing fatter every min- 
ute from the exercise — if she were only sure 
that her efforts were meeting with general appro- 
bation. 

“ What do you suggest, Carl ? ” inquired his aunt, 
apparently somewhat vexed that he was so slow in 
getting an inspiration. 

“ Fve found out what the matter is,” he began 
cautiously. ‘‘ It looks to me as if you are all doing 
more than your share of the work — ” 

“Just so,” agreed the pastor’s wife. “Of 
course, the men pay their money; but they don’t 
do any of the actual planning, nor any of the hard 
work. A few of them come and eat, pay their 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 123 

money, and get away as fast as they can. Now 
what kind of cooperation do you call that? ’’ 

“ I abominate people that don’t do anything ex- 
cept stand around and pay their share of the ex- 
penses,” said the fat lady, though it was evident 
by the way she spoke that she had never abominated 
any human being. “ Some people are always will- 
ing to pay; but they don’t do a thing to create — 
or to push any enterprise along. They leave the 
slavery to people with brains.” 

I think,” went on Carl soberly, “ we will get 
the men and the boys of this third ward to work. 
But of course we’ll have to interest them in order 
to enlist their services.” 

“How are you going to do it?” inquired the 
thin lady. “ The men of this town are not notable 
for their sociability — that is, so far as the church 
is concerned. And they always over-work the ex- 
cuse that they have to look after their business. All 
they think about is business. It would take a great 
deal of persuasion to get them started. Even if 
the President of the United States made a personal 
visit to each of them, to get them interested in church 
doings, they’d have some excuse or other.” 

“If Aunt Esther will let me have her car to- 
morrow, I’ll see what I can do,” Carl said with 


124 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

tremendous courage. You ladies must give me 
a list of every man and boy of your church located 
in the third ward ; I’ll spend all day calling on them. 
I’m sure I can get them interested in this affair. 
A good American will do anything for his country, 
his state, his town, and his ward — whether he goes 
to church or not, if you appeal to him in the right 
way.” 

The members of the committee were all enthusi- 
astic; they complimented Carl roundly, though the 
plump lady with the pretty face was sure he would 
tire of his task before he should get half way 
through. 

“ We’ll have to get them curious,” laughed Carl. 
“ Many good men who take a wrong step do it from 
curiosity; and most of them who take a right step, 
do it from the same motive. Satisfy a man’s appe- 
tite, and he’ll lose interest in the table as soon as 
he’s eaten all he wants. Keep his curiosity going 
— and you have him right by the neck; that is, if 
he’s a healthy man with a good imagination.” 

“ Why, Carl ! ” rebuked his aunt, notwithstanding 
that she joined in the general laugh led by the pas- 
tor’s wife. It was possible that this committee 
meeting was being transformed into a gala affair; 
yet they were getting closer to the object of their 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 125 

search instead of deeper into the mire of doubt 
and distraction. 

But what are you going to do after you excite 
the curiosity of the men and the boys?” asked 
the minister’s wife, curious to the tips of her little 
squirrel ears. 

Carl guffawed — especially when he saw that all 
of them — even to his aunt — were craning their 
necks towards him, in order to satisfy their natural 
thirst for something novel. 

I’m not going to tell you now,” he said. I’ll 
keep you curious till the third ward gives its bril- 
liant event next Thursday night. And I’ll not let 
any of the men and boys tell you what we expect 
to do.” 

“ But how can you give a church affair without 
the help of us women? ” queried thin Mrs. Sparks. 
‘‘ You’ll have to let us into the secret — we’re on the 
committee.” 

*‘No; I’m going to keep you curious,” declared 
Carl with emphasis. “ I don’t want you working 
yourselves to shadows, getting all tired out — possi- 
bly losing your looks. You’re to rest till the night 
of the event rolls around; then you must all come, 
in your best clothes and humors. You’ll have noth- 
ing to do — absolutely nothing, except to be agree- 


126 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

able and leave it all to me. The men and boys of 
the third ward will assume all the responsibilities 
and do all the work. You are to be entertained; 
but you must bring plenty of money along to spend, 
and get others to do the same. You’ll be like base- 
ball fans; you must root.” 

“ Indeed we will,” avowed the pastor’s wife. 

A half-hour later, the committee, much relieved 
after casting their burden upon the shoulders of a 
visiting boy less than sixteen, bade Carl a cordial 
good-by as he and his aunt were summoning their 
flock for a brisk ride back home. 

So it happened that before sunset every woman 
and girl of the third ward was curious to know 
just what the young stranger was planning for the 
following Thursday evening, in order to raise the 
required amount of money for enlarging the par- 
sonage and mending its leaky roof. On the other 
hand, all their men and boys were as eager to know 
what the young stranger intended to tell them next 
day, after he should seek them out in a motor-car. 
A few of them planned to leave town; others de- 
clared they would not be imposed upon during offlce 
hours by a mere infant like Carl Merrymaker, who 
undoubtedly had a great deal of assurance. But it 
^nded that these men and boys were so curious that 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 127 

all of them eagerly awaited his coming next day; 
indeed, one of the older men was considerably hurt 
when Carl failed to see him, for the reason that the 
committee had refrained from putting his name 
on the list because he had the reputation of being a 
‘‘ perfect bear.” Furthermore, these curious men 
and boys were so eager to keep the women and 
girls curious, they refused to betray Carl’s secret. 
Consequently, it was only a little while before not 
only the third ward, but the whole town, was ram- 
pant with curiosity. 

When Mrs. Fortune reached her apartment that 
evening, she was met at the door by Jack Gore and 
Ned. Jack was wearing Marje’s gingham apron, 
and Ned had on the white one she usually wore 
at table. Both of these young reporters were very 
red in the face, yet smiling as if they had been 
enjoying the over-heated Convention more than or- 
dinarily. 

“ Oh, I smell onions ! ” cried Marje, pretending 
to be overcome by faintness as she clutched at the 
wall. 

There was no doubt of it. Never in its history 
had Mrs. Fortune’s elegant apartment been so re- 
dolent of that delicious but questionable odor pro- 


128 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ceeding from onions freshly placed on a warm 
range. Little wonder it was that the exquisite lady 
of the house clapped her hands over her nose and 
ran into the drawing-room to throw the windows 
wider open. Noise was disagreeable enough; but 
the smell of onions was a dire offense, especially 
during hot weather. She laughed, nevertheless, 
when she returned to the hall to remove her hat; 
for she realized that some very unusual recreation 
of a jolly nature was progressing in the kitchen, 
where all the youngsters were talking and laughing 
together, and Jack Gore was comically switching 
about .in his flowing apron and making a great 
monkey of himself. 

Mrs. Fortune actually braved the kitchen, though 
she was almost overcome by the fumes rising like 
uncanny incense from a wooden bowl heaped high 
with peeled onions. 

“ I’m so glad I gave you the key, Ned,” she said 
faintly. For having learned from Carl that a ‘‘ good 
fellow ” is the loveliest thing any woman can be, 
Mrs. Fortune was determined to emulate the Merry- 
makers by being a good fellow; moreover, she 
would follow in their footsteps and make the best 
of any situation, however staggering, that should 
come her way. Still she did not feel particularly 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 120 

edified at the prospect of treading a path reeking 
with the fumes of onions. 

“ I made myself at home, just as you told me to 
do,’’ assured Ned, though somewhat sheepishly, 
after discovering that his dainty aunt was actually 
suffering pain. 

I didn’t mean to be so late,” went on Mrs. 
Fortune, stepping very close to the bowl of onions, 
in order to prove beyond peradventure of a doubt 
that she was already the best of good fellows. 
“ You see, we were out on the North Shore, and 
we came back through Lincoln Park — ” 

‘‘ And we saw the loveliest scenery in the world,” 
interrupted Jean. I wished all the time that you 
and Bess could have been along, Ned.” 

“ Jack and I got away from the Convention a little 
earlier to-day,” went on the eldest of the Merry- 
makers, amused at the buoyancy of his brothers 
and sisters. “We thought it would be fun to sur- 
prise you with a supper — but you got here a little 
early. Please don’t find fault because we’ve used 
all the kitchen utensils in the house, Marje. And 
please. Aunt Esther, forgive me for taking such 
liberties. I surely have made myself at home, and 
so has Jack.” 

“ I know what you’re doing,” said Marje, before 


180 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Mrs. Fortune could tell them that the sky was the 
limit of her own home. “ You’re cooking beef- 
steak and onions — goody, goody! There’s noth- 
ing so delicious — ” 

“ Unless it’s liver and cauliflower,” put in Carl. 

“ Or ham and cabbage,” added the fairy-like Jean. 

But what will my fashionable neighbors think ! ” 
groaned Mrs. Fortune, in spite of the efforts she 
was making to be considered a good fellow. Then 
she laughed rather nervously and continued as if in 
atonement : What a lark I Imagine two New 

York newspaper correspondents cooking a meal in 
my house! It makes me feel so helpless.” 

“ Never mind. Aunt Esther,” joked Ned; ‘‘ these 
onions will give you strength — they’re wonderful, 
the way Jack cooks them.” 

We’ve been pining to break into somebody’s 
kitchen and get up a meal to suit ourselves,” said 
Jack Gore, his eyes filled with tears as he dashed 
a plateful of sliced onions into a big skillet. “ We 
got so tired of hotel cooking. I think this change 
of diet may save our lives.” 

” And don’t worry about the neighbors. Aunt 
Esther,” consoled Ned, the while hammering a red 
and juicy steak of unusual thickness: “ the truth is, 
everybody in this building would like to be with us. 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 131 

Wherever you smell onions, you’re pretty sure to 
find good company.” 

“ I want you to feel perfectly at home,” declared 
Mrs. Fortune. By this time she had reached the 
conclusion that the taint of onions might not be 
injurious to the rose-colored draperies in the draw- 
ing-room and the tapestry separating the dining- 
room from the hall-library, though these luxurious 
hangings for many years had been steeped in the 
scent of roses. “ Shan’t I help you? ” she pleaded. 

I’m not very competent in a kitchen ; but you can 
show me how to do things.” 

“No — please don’t get mixed up in this affair, 
Aunt Esther,” said Ned. “ Just go into the dining- 
room, and take Marje along. It makes men ner- 
vous to have critical women supervising them when 
they try to cook; you know, men have their own 
way of doing such work. Now Jack, don’t thrown 
any more peelings into the coal-scuttle; you’re the 
most untidy scullery maid I ever saw. Wrap them 
up in paper and bury them deep in the garbage- 
pail on the back stoop.” 

“ Let not one of them be spared to mock us ! ” 
cried Jack dramatically as he hastily obeyed. 

“ We got this steak in a corner butcher-shop over 
on Indiana Avenue,” went on Ned, talking loudly 


132 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

to compel the attention of Mrs. Fortune and the 
girls, who had gone into the dining-room to set the 
table. These are the strongest onions I ever saw 
— perfect darlings. Actually all the people stared 
at us for blocks away; I dare say they wanted to 
rob us.” 

The idea of a beefsteak on such a night ! ” 
giggled Marje. 

“ And isn’t it curious,” laughed Mrs. Fortune, 
“ that whenever a woman leaves her house in charge 
of her men folk, she’s sure to come back and find 
it reeking with onions ? ” 

“ Unless her men folks are sickly or rather fin- 
nicky,” put in Carl, who from the first had heartily 
approved of Ned’s menu. 

At that juncture, excitement of a suppressed na- 
ture ensued when Ned dropped the precious broiler 
into the coals. But after considerable effort, and 
much additional perspiring on the part of Jack and 
Ned, the sizzling morsel was rescued and neatly 
scraped with an iron spoon. 

You people in the dining-room might settle the 
drink question,” called out Jack Gore. “ I hope 
you'll decide to have something besides lake 
water.” 

“ Strawberry pop,” suggested Rex, 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 133 

‘‘ Or iced-tea/’ said Jean. ‘‘ It’ll cool us off bet- 
ter.” 

Neither one of them goes well with steak and 
onions,” objected Marje. 

‘‘ I want ginger ale,” almost demanded Carl. 

“ Hot tea suits me,” spoke up Mrs. Fortune. 

“ Strong coffee,” voted Jack Gore, only to be 
overwhelmed with ridicule. 

“ Milk,” said Marje. 

“ My, what differences of opinion ! ” came back 
Ned from the range. “ I guess we’ll have to hold 
another family consultation. Come out here in this 
hot-box of a kitchen and let’s fight it out.” 

Soon he was surrounded by the others — just at 
that tantalizing moment when he was flopping the 
gigantic steak upon a hot platter — a ’ sight that 
made even Mrs. Fortune ravenously hungry. 
“ Now let’s put it to a quick vote,” he advised. 
“ What shall we drink ? ” 

“ Why can’t we all have what we want?” asked 
Mrs. Fortune. “You can have your cocoa, as 
usual, Ned, and I’m keen for a cup of hot tea. 
I want all my guests to be pleased.” 

“ We always find it great fun to conform,” 
laughed Ned. “ We’ll all agree upon the same 
beverage and be thankful to get it.” 


134 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Mrs. Fortune was indeed amused when Ned called 
for votes. Contrary to their usual custom each 
of the Merrymakers had his or her own decided 
idea as to what especial kind of drink should grace 
this bounteous repast. For Rex clamored so per- 
sistently for strawberry pop, the others were just 
as much determined that his selfishness should be 
punished; yet he was no more obdurate than Carl, 
who fought desperately for ginger ale, or Mrs. 
Fortune, who made the situation funnier by imi- 
tating Rex’s piping voice as she dutifully stood up 
for hot tea. As for Jack Gore, he wanted strong 
coffee and plenty of it. 

“We can’t agree,” said Ned, covering the steak 
with melting onions. “ Now let’s not lose any time, 
for Jack and I have to go back to work. What 
shall we do ? ” 

“ Strike a compromise,” shouted Rex, as jubi- 
lantly as if compromises were very delightful things 
to strike. 

“ Right,” said Ned. “ Now suppose we each 
want some certain drink for a great event like this, 
and we can’t agree as to what it shall be — what 
kind of a compromise would you suggest?” 

“ There’s nothing in the world but cold water,” 
said Jean ruefully. 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 135 

** That^s it — we gotta drink water,” cheerfully 
recommended Rex, evidently satisfied to relinquish' 
strawberry pop, inasmuch as nobody else had any 
advantage over him. 

Cold water shall be the beverage for this solemn 
occasion,” dryly bantered Jack Gore. “ And it 
suits me very well; IVe drunk so much of this 
Lake Michigan water, Fm getting attached to it.” 

“ But Aunt Esther shall have her hot tea,” said 
Ned leniently. “ This is her own house, and she’s 
accustomed to having just what she craves.” 

“ Fll take cold water with the rest of you,” was 
Mrs. Fortune’s very firm retort. ‘‘ Fd feel con- 
temptible drinking tea, all the while knowing that 
little Rex was denying himself strawberry pop. 
Now Fll get the water ready. At least I can con- 
tribute that much to the feast.” 

So with much hilarity and with frequent endorse- 
ments of cold water as the only suitable drink for a 
beeksteak dinner in hot weather, the viands were 
soon placed on the table. Jack Gore added to the 
feast by contributing a few baked potatoes — hot 
as the month of June itself, and Mrs. Fortune, 
after considerable searching of her pantry shelves, 
came in with a glass of apple jelly and a jar of 
chow-chow. Consequently, this bohemian spread, 


136 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

outside of the rather pungent smell of the onions, 
was one not to be scorned by any healthy appetite. 

‘‘What has the family been doing to-day?’’ in- 
quired Ned, after he had filled the plates of the 
diners. 

“We went over to Andover, the suburb where I 
used to live,” enlightened his aunt. “ I still keep 
up my membership in the church there. The third 
ward is going to give some kind of an entertainment 
next Thursday; the proceeds will go towards com- 
pleting repairs on the parsonage. We still have 
two hundred dollars to raise.” 

“ That isn’t much,” said Jack Gore. 

“ It’s a large amount when you stop to consider 
that most people don’t feel able to squander more 
than a quarter apiece on a church entertainment,” 
said Mrs. Fortune. “ Our committee met to-day ; 
we hadn’t much time to plan this affair, and we 
didn’t know what to do. We wanted to have some- 
thing novel — something that would lead to so- 
ciability, and at the same time net us as much money 
as possible. Above all, we wanted to please every- 
body.” 

“ You’ll find it impossible to please everybody, 
considering that a third of the people don’t want 
to be pleased,” derided Jack Gore. “ Any affair 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 137 

that pleases everybody — or any person that pleases 
everybody — would hardly stand the test of dis- 
criminating critics.” 

At any rate, we want to raise this money,” 
went on Mrs. Fortune. “We are anxious for our 
ward to give an entertainment that will make the 
other two wards proud and envious of us at the 
same time. So I took Carl along with me to make 
suggestions. And I thought the other children 
might as well go, too, and enjoy themselves in Mrs. 
Fassett’s lovely grounds.” 

“ And we had the grandest time,” gushed Jean, 
her eyes shining with reminiscences of that de- 
lightful place. “ They have a beautiful pergola and 
a round frog-pond ; and they served lemonade with 
peppermints floating on the top — and little cakes 
with pink frosting. And they have a darling little 
Pekinese dog and a dozen marble bird-baths — ” 

“ And some peacocks and a croquet set that hasn’t 
got the stripes all worn off, like ours at home,” in- 
terrupted Rex. 

“ And the most ideal house,” chanted Marje with 
equal gusto. “ It’s one of the old-fashioned kind, 
with a hall in the middle and four big square rooms 
on each side of it. And there’s another hall just 
like it, on the second floor.” 


138 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

And there are big fireplaces aJt the end of the 
halls,” began Jean. 

“For mercy sake, darling, don’t mention fire- 
places,” humorously begged Jack Gore, again re- 
minded that his collar was no more than a much- 
wilted bandage. 

“ And there’s a cupola ^ and a rooster on the 
cupola that turns around and squeaks,” impulsively 
added Rex. 

“ Now don’t all talk at once,” gently rebuked 
Ned./ “ It seems that Aunt Esther was speaking 
when you all broke in.” 

“ I was trying to say,” persisted Mrs. Fortune, 
“ that I took Carl along, so he could give our com- 
mittee some suggestions. He always has so many 
bright ideas.” 

“And was he of any help to you?” inquired 
Ned. 

“ He said he could be of assistance, but 
none of us knows what he expects to do,” re- 
turned Mrs. Fortune with a dubious look at 
Carl. 

“ I have a plan that will be a winner,” said Carl 
confidently — so confidently that his aunt’s faith in 
him was completely restored. “ I’m not going to 
tell you about it now ; I want to think over it a little 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther iSd 

more. Then Til explain it to you, and you can 
all put on the finishing touches.’’ 

“ We’ll arbitrate over it,” chimed in Rex with 
exceeding pleasantness. 

“No; we’ll just talk it over,” said Carl. “I 
promised to be responsible for the entertainment, 
and I expect to manage it myself. Then if I fail, 
the rest of you can’t be blamed.” 

“ But you can’t fail,” bolstered Jean. “ When 
we get a good foundation and all work together, 
we never fail.” 

“ In the first place,” Carl resumed, “ I’m going 
to see that the men and boys of the church do all 
the work. They shall have credit for all they do. 
And Aunt Esther is going to loan me her car, and 
I’m to visit each of them to-morrow. Not one of 
them dares to back down unless he takes ill sud- 
denly. Then on the next day, I’m going out to 
Andover again, and take Marje and Jean along 
to help me. It’s a big undertaking, but I 
can pull it through — only I wish I had more 
time.” 

“ Do tell us your plans,” coaxed Marje. Every 
ear was turned to hear Carl’s reply. 

“ I’m, not ready to tell,” he said gazing out over 
the tree-tops as if he were eager to find considerable 


140 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

space in which to think. I have some good 
ideas — '' 

Splendid ! ’^ cried Marje, while Jean and Rex 
clapped their hands and all the other guests seemed 
equally as much pleased. “ You’re a wonder, Carl. 
And you’ll succeed — you always do.” 

But you all helped me,” was Carl’s magnani- 
mous confession. “ I thought and thought over it 
till my head ached, and that fat woman talked so 
much I seemed to get more and more rattled. 
Finally I got an inspiration when I recalled some 
things Marje, Jean, and Rex had said.” 

The three members of the family thus honored 
gazed at one another in surprise. You remem- 
ber,” proceeded Carl, how all of you kept mak- 
ing remarks about the Fassett home; and when 
Marje said that it was much like the castles we 
used to read about in our fairy stories, I got the 
great idea.” 

“ Keep it to yourself, Carl, till you have a good 
foundation to build on,” advised Ned. “ When 
you get the main structure of your grand idea com- 
pleted, call on the family and we’ll talk over the 
furnishings. Isn’t that right, children? ” 

The others enthusiastically agreed that Ned and 
Carl were right in keeping the plan secret till Carl 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 141 

was ready to explain it; nevertheless, they were 
curious and equally eager to lend their assistance. 

I have great faith in Carl,” said Ned with 
pride. “ He’s always in earnest, and he doesn’t 
shirk duties, even though he makes a bungle once 
in a while.” 

Yes, he’s all right,” endorsed Jack Gore. “ It 
was very neat, the way he tackled those hidden 
politicians yesterday, so we could find them and 
drag them forth to publicity.” 

“ But I made a great many silly mistakes,” pro- 
tested Carl, coloring at the recollection of his many 
dilemmas. Now I’ll tell you all the trouble Gath 
and I had to encounter before we got through 
with it. I thought I had made a failure all 
round — ” 

Don’t stop to apologize for yourself,” cautioned 
Ned with one of his most engaging smiles. All 
newspaper reporters have their troubles ; there’s 
nothing easy about their little game. But all the 
clumsy things they do seem to be of help to them 
in the future. At any rate, you found out the 
dens of those three elusory politicians — after Jack 
and I had failed.” 

But Gath and Miss Caldwell helped me,” in- 
sisted Carl with increasing modesty. 


142 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ They wouldn’t have helped you if you hadn’t 
been all right yourself,” avowed Jack Gore. 

Then the talkative beefsteak party was interrupted 
by a loud ring at the door-bell and the horrified 
exclamation of Aunt Esther. “ Callers ! ” she cried, 
turning pale and staggering to her feet. “ The idea 
of calling at such an hour! Oh, what shall we 
do!” 

‘‘ Fd advise some courageous member of the fam- 
ily to go to the door,” chuckled Jack Gore, refus- 
ing to rise till his plate was cleared. 

There was something so comical about Mrs. For- 
tune’s distress that Ned permitted his brothers and 
sisters to laugh, while he threw the French windows 
open wider and drew the tapestry separating the 
dining-room from the library hall. 

“ Brace up. Aunt Esther,” comforted Carl. 

Just tell the caller you’re entertaining some coun- 
try relatives from Pennsylvania.” 

Buoyed by the facetious remarks of the young 
folks, Mrs. Fortune succeeded in dragging herself to 
the front door. Then followed an interval of si- 
lence. Marje hoped that some grocerman had mis- 
taken the front door for the one at the back of the 
house. In truth, all the guests at that depleted table 
were hoping for the best when they heard Mrs. 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 143 

Fortune cry out in a frightened voice — ‘‘Dr. 
Vane I ’’ 

“ It’s Aunt Esther’s preacher,” shouted Jean, so 
loudly Marje forgot herself to the extent of uttering 
a still more noticeable “ Hush ! ” 

“ He’s come to fire Aunt Esther out of the church 
for eatin’ onions,” prophesied Rex; which remark 
had no effect in restoring quiet to the distracted 
dining-room. To make the situation all the more 
absurd. Aunt Esther could be heard laughing in a 
hysterical manner that did not go well with her 
dignity as a prominent pillar of the church. 

Loyal to the head of the household whatever 
might befall, however, the guests at the table drifted 
into the drawing-room when Aunt Esther had sum- 
moned strength to turn on a light or two. There 
in the easiest chair sat a tall man with very blue 
eyes and the reddest whiskers imaginable. He was 
that kind of man that all children love — also, all 
old people that do not outgrow the days of their 
youth — the kind of man that dogs fall upon with 
gladness, instinctively knowing that he is to be 
trusted ; he was one who could set a canary bird to 
singing with the music of his voice; or cause a cat 
to purr with rapture, or calm the ruffled spirit of 
the chronic grouch. Instead of being garbed in 


144 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

black, he wore a golf suit, and his thick calves bulged 
out thicker in their brown-woolen casements. 

‘‘Well, what a treat!’’ he cried joyously. For 
by this time they were all introducing themselves, 
their kind hostess being unable to rise to that emer- 
gency. Indeed, she had sunk back in the warmest 
chair and looked as if she would never gain suffi- 
cient strength to get out of it. “ I didn’t know I 
was to have such a pleasure,” went on Dr. Vane, 
lifting Rex to his knees and smiling genially at 
Marje. “ Here we have the ideal American family 
of boys and girls — the family upon which the 
whole superstructure of our commonwealth de- 
pends! Surely this meeting has added a year to 
my life! ” 

So far as the younger members of the household 
were concerned, the high tension was removed by 
this wholesome eulogy, despite the fact that Jean 
had spilt a tumbler of water over the upper part 
of her body, thereby causing her dress to cling 
unnecessarily close to her spare form. But Marje 
felt keenly for Aunt Esther in her predicament, 
notwithstanding that the girl soon saw the advan- 
tage of contributing the essential womanly repose, 
without which any mixed crowd is sure to be lacking 
in tone; so she swallowed her own confusion and 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 145 

sat down to keep the conversation from sounding 
so strained and unnatural. 

‘‘ It happened that I was out riding with a friend, 
along Grand Boulevard,” the minister explained in 
good time. After I work all day to get a sermon 
in order for my congregation, I feel like taking 
good, brisk exercise. Usually, I walk — some- 
times run when there is no danger of my flock see- 
ing me; but to-night I had a chance to ride. Well, 
right at Thirty-fifth Street, a tire burst — and there 
we stuck! We had to be towed to the nearest 
garage, for the machine refused to work any more, 
and I didn’t blame it. When told that it would 
take an hour for the necessary repairs, I happened 
to think of my good parishioner, Mrs. Fortune; so 
I made up my mind to call on her — possibly stay 
till the tire and other defects were remedied.” 

You’re welcome,” volunteered Ned, heroically 
striving to add as much coziness as possible to his 
aunt’s elegant but onion-smelling apartment. ‘‘ Mr. 
Gore and I are newspaper correspondents from New 
York; we’ve been doing the big Convention down 
town. You see, it’s all our fault — Aunt Esther 
and the children were out riding, so Mr. Gore and 
I thought it would be fun to have supper ready when 
they got back. We — I decided that nothing would 


146 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

be so appropriate as a beefsteak smothered with 
onions. Of course, Aunt Esther would have dis- 
approved, but — ” 

‘‘ Beefsteak and onions ! ” cried Mrs. Fortune’s 
pastor. If there’s anything on earth I thoroughly 
approve of, it’s beefsteak and onions! We never 
have such a treat at home, on account of callers; 

people are so apt to talk, you know.” Then the 

minister gazed longingly at the portiere sepa- 
rating the dining-room from the hall-library as 
he added as though inspired : ‘‘ Do you really 

mean to say you’ve been having beefsteak and 
onions? ” 

“Can there be any doubt of it?” counter-ques- 
tioned Ned. “Can’t you smell?” 

“ No, dear boy — but I wish I could,” solemnly 
returned Dr. Vane, looking disappointed. “ The 
truth is, I haven’t the sense of smell. That’s a 
gift that’s always been denied me. If I had to 

sleep in a bed of onions, I shouldn’t be able to 

enjoy their sweet fragrance. Sometimes, Fm glad 
I can’t smell; it seems that my wife gets more 
agony out of smelling than she does rapture. Per- 
haps that is why your aunt looks so distressed — 
she doesn’t like the smell of onions. But though 
my sense of smell is lacking, I assure you that my 


A Busy Day for Aunt Esther 147 

sense of taste is well developed — and I’m rather 
hungry.” 

We’ll be glad to give you what’s left of the 
steak,” essayed Carl. “ I’m sure you’ll like it.” 

The minister rose with alacrity and looked so 
contented everybody reflected his condition. But 
Ned, who had served the plates, was forced to fur- 
nish fuel for another embarrassment. ‘‘ I’m 
sorry — very sorry,” he stammered; “but Jack 
Gore ate the last bit of steak, though he really didn’t 
need it — ” 

“ And I sopped out the onion platter with a piece 
of bread,” finished Rex. 

This new aspect was still more disconcerting to 
Mrs. Fortune; for no hostess can bear to turn her 
pastor out of the house after he actually admits 
that he wants food. It was high time for the 
Merrymakers to rack their resourceful brains for 
some graceful means of relieving their aunt’s anx- 
iety, and at the same time prove to Dr. Vane that 
they were indeed good fellows. But on this occa- 
sion Ned seemed barren of suggestions. In fact, 
he and Jack Gore were basely deserting their posts 
as they began looking for their hats, all the time 
explaining that they must hurry back to the Con- 
vention. Carl tried to think out some plausible 


148 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

remedy, but finally turned a beseeching eye upon 
Marje. 

“ You must stay and have a bit of supper,” said 
Marje, hoping that her invitation sounded cordial 
in spite of its queer wording. “ I’ll see that it’s 
served to you and Aunt Esther before your motor 
calls for you. You see. Aunt Esther doesn’t en- 
tirely approve of onions — so she ate a very light 
meal. We have some lamb chops and some pota- 
toes ready to fry — and it won’t take long. I’ll 
run out and give the order.” 

Thank you,” returned the pastor with a roguish 
smile. “ But please don’t go to any bother. It’s 
too bad to compel the cook to prepare two suppers 
on such a hot night.” 

“ She’ll be glad to do it,” brightly assured Marje, 
getting ready to disappear behind the portiere con- 
cealing the topsy-turvey dining-room. ‘‘ And 
what would you like to drink? ” 

Tea, if you please,” said Dr. Vane. 

“ Yes, dear — tea,” feebly seconded Aunt Esther. 

Make it hot — and very, very strong.” 


CHAPTER V 


AT THE BIG DEPARTMENT STORES 

Carl was standing under the dome of the great- 
est department store in the world. Above him rose 
several galleries, each supported by square white 
pillars, and over all was that wonderful dome with 
its perfect arches and brilliant colors. He had 
heard that if this dome were spread out flat, it would 
cover six thousand square yards ; also, that a million 
pieces of glass formed its exquisite patterns. 

Carl gazed upward with the keen eyes of one 
accustomed to noting details. Little cared he if the 
shoppers all about him should choose to regard him 
as a very green boy unaccustomed to seeing unusual 
sights. He wanted to be able to give an excellent 
description of this marvelous piece of work to Bess ; 
moreover, he might be tempted to make it the sub- 
ject of a composition, to be read some Friday after- 
noon at school. Surely this dome was fully as im- 
pressive as the Fountain of the Great Lakes,” 
standing in front of one of Chicago’s public build- 
ings, or the bronze image of Lincoln in the vast park 
149 


150 The Merf'ymakers in Chicago 

bearing his narfie, or any of the unrivaled paintings 
adorning the walls of the Art Institute. He con- 
sidered it a proof of the city’s artistic progress that 
its greatest commercial center should be covered 
by a dome that had called forth the world’s most 
efficient genius. 

Then he walked about, inspecting this depart- 
ment store, at that hour in possession of the after- 
noon shoppers. At five o’clock he was to meet Jack 
Gore and Ned at the Coliseum, to take dinner with 
them down town ; so he had ample time in which 
to see more of that Wonder City, which frightens 
some strangers but fascinates others taking the time 
to get acquainted with her. But Carl soon found 
it an impossibility to see everything in three short 
hours, especially when he learned that this building 
contained thirty-five acres of floor space. No won- 
der he was already beginning to feel fatigued, or 
that the endless displays of rich merchandise and 
the countless rows of pillars made him dizzy. For 
these department stores are cities in themselves, 
supplied with restaurants and tea-rooms, detectives 
and physicians, hospitals with trained nurses, and 
all the other essentials required by an up-to-date 
municipality. So he decided that he would visit one 
of the heads of this vast emporium, and get some 


At the Big Department Stores 151 

information that might be of interest to himself and 
his family. Such a task would take no more ex- 
ertion -than locating three famous politicians trying 
to hide, nor would it require half so much courage. 

He first asked a floor-walker where the business 
offices were located. Then in an elevator he soared 
to that far-away territory, soon finding himself on 
an upper floor gazing at an interminable row of 
doors. The mysterious alley in which he was 
standing reminded him of a city street re-echoing 
with the distant whirring of trolley-cars — not to 
mention the nearer confusion of typewriters, add- 
ing-^machines, telephones, speaking-tubes, cash-car- 
riers, and several other mechanical devices of which 
he had never heard. Girls in black dresses and 
boys in uniforms, also a host of men with manu- 
scripts and merchandise, were hastening hither and 
thither, as though they had but one more moment 
to live and must make the most of that brief pe- 
riod. 

“ May I see the boss ? Carl asked a man, who 
was coming out of one of the compartments bearing 
a tray of babies’ shoes. He knew that in order 
to get what he wanted, he must follow Ned’s ad- 
vice : “ Get a line on what you are looking for ; 

then follow it up, and don’t stop till you get it.” 


152 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ I suppose you wish to see the person that hires 
the employees,” said the man, who happened to 
be one of the department managers. He had not 
laughed when Carl referred to the chief of that’ 
great store as the boss ” ; possibly the man him- 
self used that term, for the reason that it was short, 
expressive, and truthful. 

“No; I want to see the man at the very head 
of this establishment,” went on Carl, too much 
intent upon getting what he wanted, to care how 
his explanation sounded. 

“ He’s dead,” announced the department manager. 
Carl thought, from the way the man spoke, the 
founder of that great concern must have been dead 
a long time. 

“ But he couldn’t very well be managing this 
store if he’s dead,” Carl burst forth rather indig- 
nantly; for if there were anything he hated, it was 
to be ridiculed when he asked a sensible question. 
“ I want to see the man highest up — do you un- 
derstand? Not the man on the top floor, but the 
Big Chief.” 

“ I see,” returned the man with the baby-shoes, 
though he did not smile; he was far too busy to 
waste time and strength in smiling. “ You want to 
see the head of the wholesale and retail depart- 


At the Big Department Stores 153 

ments; but I doubt if you can get at him. You 
might as well try to see the Sultan of Turkey when 
he’s having a family re-union. You don't want 
much, do you?” 

''Not much,” replied Carl pleasantly — but, oh, 
so decidedly! The Big Chief was not going to 
evade him if he could help it — especially after all 
that experience he had gone through in locating 
those hidden politicians. 

" He’s in that room at the corner,” informed the 
man, pointing the direction. " You’ve got to wait 
in line till he gets ready to see you. And you’ll 
have to be mighty brief in stating your busi- 
ness.” 

Carl was not daunted, though his heart fluttered 
rather noticeably — a physical discomfort apt to be- 
siege a very determined person with some particle 
of modesty to his credit. Fortunately, no one was 
waiting in line ; so he knocked at the oaken door — 
very lightly at first, then louder. A girl admitted 
him into a large apartment ; several other girls were 
siting at tables and desks, or standing to look 
through filing-cabinets. Behind a large desk near 
a window gleamed the top of a human head; evi- 
dently it was the property of a man about fifty. 
When Carl discovered that this head was partially 


154 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

thatched with short, gray hair, neatly brushed and 
parted at the side, he felt his fears diminishing. 
Apparently the Big Chief was immaculate in ap- 
pearance ; he also must possess a sense of fitness and 
an eye for estimating values, else he would not be 
head of the greatest department store in the world. 

Contrary to the boy’s expectation, the girls did i 
not rush at him and attempt to block his way, as 
do the men guarding the President of the United 
States when some enthusiastic admirer attempts to 
shake hands with him in public. Instead, they 
stared at him, though they were too busy to stare 
long. Carl made his way to the Big Chief, who 
was bending over a mammoth pile of unanswered 
letters; Carl’s heart crinkled with sympathy. He 
saw that the man was genteel in appearance — of 
that spruce and grayish type that causes a boy to 
feel it is no hardship to grow old — and that he 
wore a suit of gray clothes, a waistcoat of a lighter 
shade, and a heavy ring of plain gold. 

'‘If you please, sir,” began Carl, “ I know how 
busy you are; but I’d like to speak a few words 
with you. I have considerable time, so I’ll wait 
till you’re ready.” 

“ I never have any leisure,” replied the man, 
though he took time to look with some interest at 


At the Big Department Stores 155 

the boy standing by his side. Carl found that all 
General Managers never have any leisure time, 
especially when they are beset with visitors they 
do not care to meet. “ What’s on your mind ? ” 
continued the Big Chief, not unkindly. 

Fm just visiting in Chicago,’^ began Carl rather 
inadequately. “ My brother is a New York news- 
paper correspondent at the Convention, and Fm 
helping him once in a while — doing interviews and 
such things. But I don’t intend to publish anything 
you may Jbe kind enough to say to me. I just want 
it for my own information, and for some of the 
boys I know. You’ll be very kind if you’ll answer 
a few questions.” 

“ Proceed.” The face of the man softened con- 
siderably; he was both amused and curious as he 
leaned back in his chair. 

“ I5 it true,” began Carl, that seven-tenths of 
the boys that make good in big department stores 
come from the country? Do they have to know 
how to chop wood, shuck corn, and milk cows — 
and all those things — before they can learn how 
to handle merchandise ? ” 

The great boss laughed. ‘‘ I suppose you’re a 
country boy,” he said. 

“Not exactly; I came from Johnstown. Of 


156 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

course, it’s not as big as Chicago; yet you haven’t 
more than two cities in Illinois any larger.” 

“No; a boy doesn’t necessarily have to be born 
in the country to make a success of any business,” 
assured the great manager with the confidence of 
some reliable authority. “ However, I’ll have to 
admit that, here in the West, about seven out of 
ten of them come from the country and small towns. 
I think it’s because a boy leaving home feels that 
he has to make a go of it in new surroundings. 
He takes hold better and has more endurance than 
if he stays at home.” 

“ But I should think a city department store would 
seem so strange to him, he’d have a hard time 
getting used to it,” argued Carl, taking the vacant 
chair facing the manager. 

“He feels strange at first, of course; sometimes 
he’s like a wild turkey lost in the forest. But it 
doesn’t take him long to get his bearings — that 
is, if he has the right kind of stuff in him.” The 
manager seemed sure of his statements, judging 
from the way he slapped his ferule on the desk for 
emphasis. “ You see, the department store is not 
entirely a city institution. In fact, it had its origin 
in a cross-roads store — a country market where 
everything was sold, from a cook-stove down to a 


At the Big Department Stores 157 

paper of hair-pins; and the post-office stood in one 
corner of it — right over a vinegar barrel. Some 
say Mr. Macy of New York evolved the idea of 
the city department store; others say it was Mr. 
Stewart of the same city; still others declare it 
was Mr. Schoolbred of London. At any rate, it 
undoubtedly was one of the three.” 

Carl made a note of this statistic on the pad Jack 
Gore had given him. “ Fm very much obliged to 
you,” he said, not knowing just how to continue 
the interview. 

“Are you looking for a job?” inquired the 
speaker. 

“ Not now ; I have two more years in high school. 
By the end of that time, Fll know just what I mean 
to do; Fm looking the ground over a little. Fm 
so anxious to start right, so I shan’t have to be 
changing positions so much, as some folks do.” 

“ Good idea,” approved the man. “ Cultivate 
your judgment, be willing to work hard, watch 
every oppqrtunity to do more than you are paid 
for doing, and never look at a clock during busi- 
ness hours unless you’re a time-keeper.” 

Carl, extremely grateful for such advice, was 
about to tender more thanks when the speaker re- 
sumed ; '' Always respect your elders, and be will- 


158 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ing to put yourself under authority. Nine out of 
ten boys failing to get ahead are either ‘ Smart 
Alecks ^ or else ‘ Dead Ones.’ Strike a happy me- 
dium.” 

Carl, upon seeing that the chief manager was 
again interested in his increasing pile of unanswered 
letters, thanked him cordially for his advice and 
information, and went out in quest of more knowl- 
jedge. During the remainder of the afternoon he 
visited other department stores and learned many 
more facts, among which was included the assur- 
ance that underneath that great city is a tunnel sixty 
miles in length; in truth, he was informed that it 
is a great system of tunnels crossing one another 
and illuminated by electric lights. By this plan 
much freight is conveyed from the railway ter- 
minals to the basements and sub-basements of the 
great structures in the business section, thereby spar- 
ing the streets of Chicago from a state of conges- 
tion almost too complex to imagine. In this re- 
spect that city differs from New York, inasmuch 
as ‘the Windy City seeks to keep the hulk of her 
freight under ground and her people on the surface ; 
while most of the people living in the metropolis 
ride in tunnels to escape the freight traffic overhead. 

Carl also gleaned many other statistics, chief 


At the Big Department Stores 159 

of which was the information that one of the larg- 
est department stores in Chicago has aisles of prodi- 
gious length — some of them four hundred feet 
long, with over fifty miles of “ running carpet.” 
In most cases the men he interviewed were civil 
— barring one or two, perhaps, who presumably 
had lunched in less time than it takes a duck to 
drink. The grouchiest of these, who happened to 
be in one of the less important establishments, told 
him to “ skiddoo ” ; so he promptly fled, the while 
feeling compassion for such a cross man’s subordi- 
nates — not to mention his wife and children. 

But it was not till the following morning that 
Carl had the opportunity of telling his brothers 
and sisters about his interview with the leading de- 
partment store managers. They were sitting at 
breakfast, above the dust, heat, and noise of the 
Boulevard; a breeze sweeping into the low French- 
windows was keeping the curtains in constant mo- 
tion, like the sails of a pleasure yacht. Everything 
was pointing to another delightful day in which 
each of the Merrymakers was to do much as he 
pleased. 

I had a wonderful afternoon, yesterday,” he 
began. “ I go to Andover every morning, to get 


160 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ready for that church entertainment to be given by 
the third ward, and in the afternoon I visit the 
business section of the city and find out all I can 
about it. But it would take a year to get much of 
an idea about Chicago. You see, she’s the center 
of almost everything — the grain and stock mar- 
kets, of manufacturing and shipping, and some day 
she’s bound to be the great publishing center. She 
also has the largest department stores and mail- 
order houses in the world. I’ve found out many 
things encouraging to a boy with my bent of mind. 
,For one thing, everybody seems to have a chance 
to make good here if he only has the gumption to 
find his place. Why, Marje, I found that the presi- 
dent of one of these department stores was once 
an errand boy ! He says he owes his success to the 
fact that he knew how to be prompt — never was 
late in his life, especially when there was a good 
opportunity in sight. Another of these men — a 
person with nice eyes and an honest bald head — 
rose from the ranks of a cash boy. He learned 
everything there was to know about a department 
store — kept his eyes open every minute. Then I 
met a general manager who began life as an appren- 
tice boy; he had to work the first two years with- 
out a cent of pay.” 


At the Big Department Stores 161 

‘‘Is there any chance for girls?’’ asked Marje, 
rather jealously. 

“ Indeed there is,” assured Carl. “ I have the 
name of a girl on Lower State Street who did 
seventy-five thousand dollars’ worth of business on 
a capital of ten thousand dollars, last year; she 
sells veiling and neck-wear. Then there’s a woman 
glove-buyer who takes trips to New York and spends 
considerable time abroad; she gets a big salary and 
travels first-class. She didn’t know a thing about 
gloves when she started in, except that they are 
used to cover hands. Another young woman runs 
a restaurant for a big department store. It takes 
four hundred people to do the work, and she has 
to hire and oversee all of them. Some of her 
waitresses make more money than the floor-walkers 
downstairs. Then there’s the head of a dress-mak- 
ing department that earns a salary of twenty thou- 
sand a year.” 

“ I’m surprised to know that there are such pos- 
sibilities in the commercial world,” remarked Mrs. 
Fortune, who had been under the impression that 
all clerks were under-paid and rather wretched. 

“ And a boy doesn’t have to be born in the coun- 
try in order to succeed,” continued the lad jubi- 
lantly. “ Perhaps some of the most successful 


162 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ones come from the country; but I found two gen- 
eral managers who prefer to hire clerks from small 
towns, and another who is looking for city-bred 
help. I also found one who is partial to college 
graduates, while still another thinks high-school 
graduates good enough. So there seems to be places 
for everybody that has some sort of education.^’ 

‘‘ I’d like to be one of the big buyers,” said Rex, 
though, to tell the truth, he had no idea of what 
a buyer was expected to do outside of drawing his 
pay. 

“ So should I,” said Carl. ‘‘ Next to the heads 
of the firm, and the managers and superintendents, 
the buyers usually get the best salaries. There are 
several of them getting their twenty thousand a 
year; but they have to work for it. Most of the 
wide-awake clerks are anxious to develop into 
buyers. You see, the buyer has to watch all the 
(Stock in his own department, and see that it’s sold 
out before it has a chance to get old and shop- 
worn. He also gets up the big bargain sales women 
like to attend. Some of the buyers are abroad 
most of the time; they scour the world for the 
beautiful carpets, fabrics, and other merchandise 
rich people want.” 

“ You might try the mercantile business, Carl,” 


At the Big Department Stores 163 

suggested Marje. “ One journalist in a family is 
enough. Mr. Pepper says you’re a very good clerk ; 
he always likes to have you in his dry-goods store 
on Saturdays or during the holidays.” 

“ I may decide to stay with Mr. Pepper after 
I finish school,” replied Carl; ‘‘but it seems more 
probable that I shall come right to Chicago and 
start at the bottom. I learned to-day that the gen- 
eral manager of the greatest department store was 
born in a Maine village, and that he was glad to get 
a job at a ribbon counter when he came to this city. 
I also found that three other managers started as 
news-boys or roustabouts; in fact, general roust- 
abouts stand a good show of being general man- 
agers. The owner of one of the largest stores is 
a woman; she started as a cash-girl and worked 
up — just like a boy. She showed such a busi- 
ness head, they couldn’t promote her fast enough. 
Now she’s retired.” 

“ Let ’s not talk shop any more,” interrupted Ned, 
fearing that Carl’s greed for making money was 
interfering with his vacation. “Of course, we all 
want to get ahead; but there are more desirable 
things in the world than money.” 

“ Yet it’s nice for the children to have ideals, 
and talk about them. There’s no telling what they 


164 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

may accomplish if they keep up their ambition.’’ 
Indeed Aunt Esther had been edified by the conver- 
sation, and was beginning to feel that, though she 
had lived in Chicago most of her life, her visiting 
relatives were ahead of her in grasping its best 
points. 

‘‘ I don’t envy any of the general managers,” 
went on Carl, as yet loath to change the subject, 

but I always like to see worthy people succeed. 
And it makes me feel that I ought to do something 
worth while, too. Only yesterday, I heard of a 
seventeen-year-old office boy at three dollars a week 
jumping into the job of record keeper for one of 
the large stores, at a big salary; also of a young 
woman — a frail little thing that has to support her 
mother — who makes several thousand a year, just 
because she knows how to sell laces; and an adver- 
tising man — who had to learn to spell cat with 
the rest of us — now drawing twenty-five thousand 
a year.” 

Just imagine our Carl talking with the head 
of the biggest department store in the world! ” 
cried Jean, bubbling over with admiration. ‘‘ The 
poor man must have at least a couple of hundred 
people to boss — hasn’t he, Carl ? ” 

‘‘Humph/’ grunted Carl; “I saw the records. 


At the Big Department Stores 165 

Of course, more people are employed during the 
holidays, and the list keeps growing steadily every 
day, but that man, at this very minute, has nearly 
sixteen thousand employees under him.” 

Though this truthful narrative relating to a boy’s 
visit among some of Chicago’s leading department 
stores may not be of much interest to girl readers — 
who much rather would like to know what Marje 
and Jean were doing at that time — it may go to 
show that at this time in his life Carl was bent upon 
finding out his future vocation; and no one was 
more interested in this important step than Marje 
and Jean, to say nothing of the many people they 
claimed as friends. Consequently, it may prove 
entertaining to go still further with Carl in his pur- 
suit of knowledge through the marts of that great 
business center — particularly for the reason that 
something came of this expedition that was of vital 
import to Marje. 

Among other things Carl had admired the beauti- 
ful displays to be seen in the windows of all the 
large stores. He made up his mind that window 
designers, or ‘‘ trimmers,” as they were called back 
home, should be regarded as artists — and very im- 
portant ones at that, inasmuch as they not only had 


166 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

the knack of combining prosaic household articles 
into most attractive groups, but they were educators 
of poor people who had the privilege of gazing in at 
these windows whether or not they had the money to 
buy. 

It was hard for him to find the mysterious head 
window-decorators in these leading department 
stores; yet he managed to locate five of them in 
most unexpected places. Though busily working, 
they all proved to be courteous men, and sufficiently 
curious to engage in prolonged conversations; how- 
ever, a few of them laughed at his queries and 
agreed with him that he had much to learn con- 
cerning the commercial and artistic world. 

The last decorator to be interviewed gave Carl 
more information than all the others together. He 
was on the topmost floor of his establishment — 
sitting in a corner that resembled the wing back 
of a stage during the performance of a stirring 
extravaganza. His sleeves were rolled up, and his 
good-natured face and yellow hair were covered 
with muslin snow-flakes and splotched with green 
paint. 

“ So you want to know some of my secrets about 
window-trimming ? ” chuckled this decorator, whose 
name was Smith. “ Like everybody else that 




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At the Big Department Stores 167 

doesn’t know anything about it, I suppose you think 
it’s an easy thing to learn. But let me tell you, 
young man, you’ve got to work day and night to 
get ahead in this game. You not only have to know 
how to handle merchandise, but you have to know 
art and literature as well ; and you have to use com- 
mon sense or you’ll slip your trolley. I’ve suf- 
fered the persecutions of Job, only I’ve kept so 
busy I haven’t had time to feel them very keenly. 
I—” 

“ Say, Mr. Smith, I have a dozen stunning hats 
just in from Paris; I hope you’ll see that they get 
the best window,” called a woman in a black dress. 
She had suddenly sprung into view from behind 
a screen decorated with trailing vines and gold 
angels on a red background. ‘‘ I have ’em all 
ready ; so send down a man right away.” 

” I’ll look ’em over,” cheerfully agreed Smith. 
“ But I must be sure they match the gowns I’m 
going to put in. I shall — ” 

” Say, Smith, can’t wC' have a special window 
to-day ? ” called out a man with a bristling mus- 
tache; he had appeared from another source and 
was equally as enthusiastic as the woman with the 
Paris hats. 

‘‘ Yes, I’ll try,” returned Smith, perfectly self- 


168 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

possessed ; and here comes McCarthy to refresh 
my mind about those sweaters. How I hate to 
bother with sweaters — especially on a hot day f 
ril be down soon, McCarthy.” Then Smith called 
out loudly to one of his apprentices : “ Say, Bobby, 

please bar the doors; don’t let any more people in 
here unless it’s one of the Great Potentates. 
They’re getting on my nerves terribly.” After 
which instructions he turned merrily to Carl and 
continued : “You see, everybody likes to dictate to 
a window-decorator. Why, if I’d permit it, they’d 
put all their stock right in the windows! But I’m 
not so foolish as to permit that; I believe the less 
a window contains, the more effective it is, and 
the more likely to sell goods.” 

“ You have such immense show-windows here 
in Chicago,” said Carl. “ Some of them are al- 
most as large as the New York shops themselves.” 

“ Largest in the world,” boasted Smith, stretch- 
ing himself for the comfortable chat, which was 
the first he had enjoyed that day. “ Our windows 
in this store cover a floor space of 3,200 square 
feet. And when a window has to be changed in 
a twinkling, it takes a regiment of us to do it, and 
to trim up another one. It keeps me planning 
night and day.” > 


At the Big Department Stores 169 

Why do so many department stores display 
furs at this time?” aked Carl. It’s so hot I 
should think it would cripple the fur business.” 

“ The biggest fur displays are on in August,” 
enlightened Smith. Most of the best dressers 
prefer to buy their furs in hot weather. Folks that 
have money like to buy early, before things get 
picked over. In January we have our white sales, 
and fill the windows with sheets and other cold- 
looking merchandise; most of the summer clothing 
is shown before the winter breaks up. Women as 
a rule like to buy early; but men wait to the last 
minute. That’s the reason we have to hire so many 
extra clerks during straw-hat season.” 

But Mr. Smith, how do you plan your win- 
dows ? ” begged Carl, more and more curious as he 
continued to gaze at the piles of boxes and rolls of 
cloth, to say nothing of shelf after shelf of cans 
and bottles. ‘‘ First, I think it all over — weeks 
and weeks in advance,” Smith thoughtfully replied. 
“ I think out a new background and a color scheme. 
Then I make a water-color design showing how the 
window will look — that is, how the background and 
the floor of the window will look when it is com- 
pleted. Some window decorators make sketches on 
a blackboard; but I find water-colors best. Then I 


170 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

show the sketch to the heads of the firm. They crit- 
icize it and make suggestions. Finally I have to 
go to a dozen or more fixture houses and to as many 
florists and many other concerns to find out how 
much my materials will cost.” 

What a task! ” exclaimed Carl. He was about 
to ask another question when an old lady wearing 
purple spectacles appeared from still another source 
and came straight to Mr. Smith, who made an 
effort to get into his coat. 

“ Pardon me — but are you the head window- 
trimmer ? ” inquired the woman. 

‘‘ Yes, Pm the window designer,” affably returned 
Smith. 

‘‘ Well, Pm representing one of the local 
leagues organized to prevent cruelty to animals,” 
explained the dame, her countenance growing 
stern. 

Smith stared at her in surprise. To his knowl- 
edge he had never been cruel to any animal, not 
even to his assistants. 

I observe,” she went on heroically, ‘‘ that you 
have Italian gardens in your windows on the west 
side — and they’re very pretty, too — quite educa- 
tional. But the poor little goldfish I Are they 
properly nourished — and do you have the water 


At the Big Department Stores 171 

changed every day ? I was appointed to investigate 
this matter/' 

“ That's all right, madam ; you're the sixth per- 
son to call round and take an interest in my pet 
goldfish," said Smith naively. ‘‘ The truth is, 
they're nourished almost to the point of over-indul- 
gence. And they're having a nice summer vacation 
in my running brooks, which is more to their liking, 
I fancy, than the vats they were imprisoned in at 
the bird-store. I leased the fish for a week. And 
the little things seem to enjoy my Italian gardens, 
judging from the way they keep leaping into the 
air and sprinkling the millinery. As we have to 
change our windows every day or so, I assure you 
the fish will be returned to their owner before one 
of them has time to die. Henry — take this lady 
back in the form-room and show her the fish-food; 
there's enough of it on hand to kill each of them ten 
times." 

The old lady, bowing politely and uttering pro- 
fuse apologies, followed a tall lad into another 
room, to return no more. 

“ Bobby, didn’t I tell you not to let any- 
body in ? " shouted Mr. Smith to his youngest ap- 
prentice. 

I didn’t mean to,” assured Bobby. ** She 


1*72 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

simply walked right over me. And the head of the 
women’s neck-wear is waitin’ outside, too — also 
the kitchen utensil man and three drummers. And 
both the ’phones want you quick.” 

“Such a life!” groaned Smith, though he an- 
swered both telephones and silenced them in one 
short minute. “ It keeps me and my janitor and 
a dozen others flying around on the wings of tur- 
moil from morning to night. It’s no use for me 
to try to think out anything when I’m down at 
headquarters.” 

“Perhaps I’d better leave you now; you’re so 
busy. I thank you for what you’ve told me,” said 
Carl, though at the same time he sat down on a 
wooden chest and relaxed considerably. 

“ That’s right — stay a while,” invited Smith. 
“ A window-decorator like any other artist is apt 
to get an inspiration when he least expects it. We 
can’t do much by locking ourselves up and 
thinking. We must always be out where we can 
get suggestions. No one ever made a success in 
life by shutting out his fellow men. I use every- 
body in my business* — just as an author does. 
They all help me. Oh — I have a tremendous 
idea!” 

Carl was startled at this loud announcement; 


At the Big Department Stores 173 

surely Mr. Smith’s ideas struck him hard and at 
most unexpected moments. 

‘‘ I’m going to use the old lady that came in to 
inquire about what the goldfish have to eat. Bless 
her heart ! — she came to have me arrested, but 
changed her mind and left me with an idea.” 

“Was she an inspiration to you?” skeptically 
inquired the lad. 

“ Sure. Did you notice that coral pin she wore 
— a little limb of coral created somewhere out in 
the Pacific Ocean? I only had a glance at it, but 
it made me think of spiraea.” 

“ Spiraea ? ” 

“ Yes — that little fluffy flower that spreads out 
so beautifully, like masses of London Smoke. I’m 
going to use spiraea for my Fall Opening; it’s 
never before been used for window trimming. You 
see, my Fall Opening must be a winner — everybody 
expects that. It has to be better than the one be- 
fore, though my Spring Opening was a dream. I 
perspired drops of blood thinking it out. Actually 
I racked my brain till it loosened at the hinges — 
but there was nothing doing at first. On the very 
last day I had for planning it, I went out to find 
something that would give me a suggestion — some- 
thing that would inspire my creation, I kept my 


174 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

eyes open till they smarted. Didn’t even miss a 
person that passed me, or a sausage hanging in a 
butcher shop. But I seemed to be stranded. Then 
the grand idea came — and how do you suppose I 
got it? ” 

‘‘How?” counter-questioned Carl. 

“ A man knocked me down.” 

The boy stared incredulously, while Smith 
stopped to laugh, both at his visitor’s queer expres- 
sion of face and his own memory of that absurd 
incident. 

“ It was this way,” he rattled on. “ A cranky 
old man turned a corner suddenly, ran into me, 
and made me lose my footing. Instead of apolo- 
gizing he seemed so frightened he could do nothing 
but rail at me. I suppose he had nerves. Anyhow, 
he asked me why I didn’t look where I was going, 
instead of mooning around like I was taking a 
stroll through Fairyland. I had the idea — Fairy- 
land! I was mad at the time; but after I’d picked 
myself up, I soon found that this disagreeable re- 
mark happened to be a seed — a seed that would 
bear fruit. With my artistic turn of mind, I 
nourished and tended it till it grew into a consum- 
ing inspiration. Before long I seemed to be actually 
walking in Fairyland. Well, you should have seen 


At the Big Department Stores 175 

t^e windows I had for the Spring Opening — all 
white and silver, with pergolas and trellises and 
urm, and lacy textures and floors that looked like 
Monte Carlo lawns! Everybody was wild about 
that display; the public congested the sidewalks till 
the police complained to the heads of the firm. 
Even the men’s clothing window looked like Para- 
dise ; but the prettiest window was the one with the 
baby outfits. I had a dozen wax dolls dressed to 
the limit; each wardrobe was valued at two hun- 
dred dollars or more. You should have seen that 
window, with those babies reveling in that bewitch- 
ing Fairyland that owed its existence to the time 
I got knocked down.” 

You must be a real artist,” said Carl, with 
increasing respect. “ You’re not one of the tem- 
peramental cranks that only imagines he is. I 
think you deserve much credit for the clever way 
you arrange your merchandise. Why, even your 
kitchen window looks better than most people’s 
parlors ! ” 

Smith laughed. ‘*Yes; I have some reputation 
as a designer,” he modestly admitted. And by 
the way, Chicago is said to have a dozen of the 
best window designers in the world — and that’s 
saying a good deal when you stop to think that 


176 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

there are fifteen thousand of them in the Unite^l 
States alone. When we have our Spring and Fall 
Openings here, the leading merchants from all over 
the continent come to Chicago, just to see the win- 
dows.’’ 

“ And what do you do with those beautiful 
backgrounds and fittings when the display is 
ended? ” 

“ Oh, after a few days, the department stores 
get ready for bids. These settings are sold to firms 
in other cities. My last cne went to some store 
in Boston.” 

‘‘ It must have been a grand display,” prolonged 
Carl. 

Yes; but if my firm had permitted me to spend 
a little more money, I might have made it still 
better. The finest window display ever known was 
made by our largest department store, not so very 
long ago. It cost the firm a cool hundred thousand. 
Every window was a triumph, and most instructive 
to the public. All periods were represented — 
Greek, Pompeiian, Gothic, Italian, Empire, Art 
Nouveau, and the Louis epochs. It was a dream in 
crystal and gold. People learned there and then 
that the window decorator is largely responsible 
for teaching folks how to dress and how to fit their 


At the Big Department Stores 177 

homes in good taste. There’s no limit to the good 
we shall accomplish.” 

“ It surely is a noble profession, though I never 
thought about it until to-day,” said Carl musingly. 

“ But if you ever want to learn it, you must do 
like all the rest of us — begin at the lowest round 
of the ladder and climb up,” advised Smith, for the 
moment very serious. “ When you begin to at- 
tract attention with your work, certain people will 
try to do everything possible to lay obstacles in your 
way. You’ll fall down under the abuse and criti- 
cism unless your ideals are pretty high, and you keep 
working.” 

Carl was still more fascinated when Smith took 
him through his various work-rooms. In one of 
them he found several men constructing a papier- 
mache Santa Claus twenty feet high; Smith said 
it would take over four months to complete it. 

‘‘ I’m already preparing for the Christmas dis- 
play,” he supplemented, as he pointed to a row of 
quaint Biedermier trees air-brushed with soft green 
tints and crested with oak leaves brightened by arti- 
ficial snow and ice. 

I have to figure out the cost of everything I 
expect to use in my window decorations,” iterated 
Smith, after several minutes spent in silent admira- 


178 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

tion of his work. “ I have to know exactly how* 
many artificial oak leaves I need, the number of 
yards of fabrics, the number of lights and shades. I 
have to experiment in making frost and fire. I 
must be an artist, a practical business man, a me- 
chanical expert, a student of textiles, an inventor, 
and experimenter, an untiring reader, and a dreamer. 
I also have to plan my displays in such a way as 
to call people’s attention to the merchandise for 
sale instead of impressing them only with the scen- 
ery. And there’s a thousand details to watch. You 
see, those little trees look simple; but they’ve al- 
ready gone through the hands of several sets of 
worlcmen and are yet incomplete. They’ve cost 
a great deal of money thus far. My holiday display 
will require two hundred yards of felt for the win- 
dow-floors, exactly 35,650 artificial leaves, and 172,- 
800 holly-berries. The ice will require the melting 
of a thousand bars of glass.” 

‘‘It’s all wonderful — and you’re wonderful!” 
rhapsodized Carl. 

“Not at all; I’m just specialized,” said Smith. 

“ One has to be a master of his game in these days 
or somebody better fitted for his job will take it 
away from him. Now let’s go into the big work- 


room. 


At the Big Department Stores 179 

It was in this busy comer of that great depart- 
ment store that Carl’s search for information found 
a clue for Marje to work out; it concerned the 
mystery attached to the stealing of her aunt’s valu- 
able apparel. For, as Carl gazed at the women 
and girls making the crimson poinsettias that were 
to adorn Mr. Smith’s windows, his eyes fell upon 
that very suspicious maid whom Mrs. Fortune had 
engaged to work for her by the day, without taking 
the trouble to look into her references — the maid 
who had left so suddenly after glimpsing that bevy 
of youngsters coming in from the East. 

Carl only knew that she was Cora. To make 
sure of this, he asked Mr. Smith the name of the 
nice-looking girl with the mass of dark hair, and 
the designer unsuspiciously replied that it was Cora 
Parker; she was helping for three weeks, and was 
the handiest girl in the work-room. But Carl, hav- 
ing gained discretion since he had led to the arrest 
of B. Dolan in New York, asked no further ques- 
tions. As for Smith, he was called away by the 
General Manager, who wanted the leather goods 
taken out of one of the north windows and replaced 
with umbrellas, rain-coats, and over-shoes. For a 
light drizzle had set in — one not likely to last more 
than two or three hours — and many of the passing 


180 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

pedestrians would be interested in those timely and 
essential articles. 

“ That’s part of the game,” said Smith, turning 
to Carl to shake hands in farewell. ‘'We just 
finished the leather window yesterday, and now we 
have to tear it up. Every time the weather changes, 
or the General Manager changes his mind, we have 
to change windows. It’s nothing but change, 
change, change — such is life!” 


CHAPTER VI 


IN HALSTED STREET 

‘‘ PvE thought it over very carefully, and I believe 
I know just what to do.” Indeed, Marje looked 
very positive as she strolled along with Carl on 
Grand Boulevard. Though the afternoon was so 
warm that the leaves on the dense trees refused to 
stir, Marje appeared very cool and fresh in a frock 
she and Bess had spent many hours in perfecting. 
From the serious expressions on the faces of Carl 
and Marje, anybody familiar with the tempera- 
ments of the Merrymaker family would have de- 
tected that some very important question was under 
discussion. 

“ I think you’d better leave it to me,” Carl finally 
said, with the assurance of an older brother. “ A 
girl shouldn’t get mixed up in an affair that’s bound 
;to be sensational.” 

“ But I’m already mixed up in it, and I’m going 
to see it through,” said Marje with spirit. 

“ But you must remember how vexed Ned would 
be,” protested Carl. “If there’s anything he de- 
181 


182 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

tests it's a scene of any kind. Now if you’ll leave 
it to me, I think I can work it out all right.” 

No — it isn’t a man’s job,” spoke Marje with 
her usual conscientiousness. “ And so long as I 
am in the right, I shan’t be afraid of consequences. 
Besides, I’ll have to make my way in the world one 
of these days, and I might as well begin to get my 
experience now. We’ll work on this case together.” 

“ Just as you say,” came back Carl, with a sigh 
of resignation. But how shall we go about it? ” 

“ We’ll have to be very cool and cautious — and 
diplomatic,” began Marje. “ You see we’re doing 
this for Aunt Esther’s sake. She told me not to 
say a word about it — how that maid ran off with 
her summer furs and her antique ring and other 
things no ordinary thief would think of taking. 
She didn’t want to spoil our visit by prolonging 
such a sensational discussion. Aunt Esther is one 
of the kind that believes children shouldn’t do any- 
thing but enjoy themselves and leave all the worries 
to their elders. But I don’t agree with her; we’ve 
all learned how to protect ourselves and one an- 
other. So I promised Auntie not to tell Jean or 
Rex — or even Ned; but your name wasn’t men- 
tioned. Now I’m glad I consulted you, for I got 
the information I’ve been wanting. What a small 


In Hoisted Street 


183 


world it is — especially for people who try to evade 
the law! I was surprised beyond words when you 
told me you saw Cora in that big department store 
— making leaves for the Christmas display/^ 

‘‘Yes; but at the time I didn’t know she had 
helped herself to Aunt Esther’s personal property. 
If I had, I’d have seen that she was arrested right 
there and then.” 

“ I’m glad you didn’t know it,” said Marje with 
a nervous laugh. “ You’d have made a great joke 
of yourself — like that time you tried to corner 
that house-breaker in New York. You couldn’t 
have proved that Cora stole the things, and she’d 
have had you arrested for blackmail or something.” 

“ Now don’t you think we’d better tell Ned about 
it? He’s a newspaper man and will know just what 
to do. We’re too green to do much in the detec- 
tive line, and we’ll get into such deep water we 
can’t get out alone.” 

“ I’m not afraid,” said Marje resolutely. “ Ever 
since we missed Aunt Esther’s property. I’ve lain 
awake nights trying to think out some way to get 
it back. Now you and I have the plan arranged, 
and it’s no business of Ned’s.” 

“ But wasn’t Aunt Esther foolish to hire a maid 
without looking up her references? The idea of 


184 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

her placing that girl in charge of the house, and 
then going away for the afternoon, so Cora could 
rummage to heart’s content ! But she certainly had 
nerve to wait long enoug'h to get the summer furs, 
too.” 

‘‘ Aunt Esther is above being suspicious,” com- 
mented Marje, meaning to champion her aunt. 
“ She’s never taken any interest in managing her 
house; I dare say she’s been cheated and imposed 
upon ever since Uncle died. Yet she’s doing better 
every day; at any rate, she’s learned that a woman 
must run her house from the kitchen, not the parlor.” 

I didn’t like the appearance of that girl,” said 
Carl, more interested in the plan they had been 
perfecting than in his aunt’s disposition to let events 
manage themselves. ‘‘ The minute I set eyes on 
her, I knew she couldn’t be trusted.” 

“ I suspected her, too. And when she left Auntie, 
without giving a moment’s notice — just because 
a few children happened in to spend ten days — 
I knew there was something wrong about her. The 
idea of anybody objecting to children! ” 

‘‘Yet I suppose she couldn’t be blamed; we’re 
such a lively lot, and it’s hotter than dog days,” 
excused Carl. 

” But we mustn’t waste any more time talking it 


In Hoisted Street 


185 


over,” briskly curtailed Marje. ‘‘ We’ve started out 
to fight something that has interfered with the wel- 
fare of our family, and we mean to do our best to 
regain Aunt Esther’s property. But tell me all you 
know about Cora. We’ll have to know how to 
conduct our investigation.” 

Marje was so bent upon plunging into the details 
of the case in hand, Carl had no time to warn her 
that he had found from experience no one knows 
exactly what he may do or say during a serious 
crisis, for the reason that all such affairs are prone 
to yield to sudden and unexpected turns. I saw 
her in the work-room of that big department store,” 
he repeated with solemnity. She was making 
leaves for a Christmas display, and she was work- 
ing more capably than anybody else. She didn’t 
lift her eyes — and she didn’t know I was looking 
at her. But I recognized her as the girl who had 
hired out to Aunt Esther and then left her in the 
lurch. I happened to tell you last night that I had 
seen her. Then you told me that you suspected her 
of having stolen Aunt Esther’s things. But why 
didn’t you tell me about the theft sooner?” 

‘‘ Because I was keeping it to myself till I could 
think out some suitable way to get at the case. 
I’m so glad you didn’t tell Aunt Esther you saw 


186 The Merrymahers in Chicago 

Cora. As it is, the secret is ours, and it’s our place 
to unravel it.” 

‘‘ I asked her name,” Carl hurried on, and told 
Mr. Smith that she seemed to be very skillful. He 
said that she was Cora Parker, and that she had 
only been employed by him within the last few 
days. He believed she had a future. He also said 
if she made good, he’d see that she got the oppor- 
tunity of trying out a steady position. He thought 
she might make a good milliner ; and that when she 
was through making leaves for the display, he’d 
have the head milliner try her out in the frame de- 
partment — ” 

“What’s the frame department?” 

“He meant the place where the apprentices make 
the bodies of the hats — that is, they’re the ones 
that get the hats ready for the trimmers. You see, 
trimmers have to be experienced; it takes a knack 
to know how to put on ribbons, flowers, buckles, and 
all the other ornaments women want on their hats. 
If a girl turns out to be a good trimmer, they may 
try her out as a saleswoman. If the customers like 
her, she may have opportunities of advancing still 
further. Mr. Smith said the proprietor of one of 
the leading millinery stores started in as an appren- 
tice and worked for months without pay. She kept 


In Hoisted Street 187 

getting advanced, saved her money, and now has a 
place of her own.” 

“And he thinks Cora Parker has a future?” 
Marje was indeed amazed, though she tried to seem 
merely reflective. 

“Yes; he says she is of an artistic nature, and . 
she’s bound to succeed if she gets started right. 
He declares he never had a better worker in his 
department.” 

“Well, of all things! Fm sure she’ll not get 
very far if she’s as dishonest as we think she is. 
Now’s the time to teach her a lesson.” 

“ It may be that she’s had poor training,” said 
Carl, with a greater display of charity. “ Or it 
may be that she’s easily tempted and can’t resist 
the opportunity to take things that appeal to her 
love of the artistic; possibly, too, she needs 
money.” 

“ I haven’t any patience with her,” warmly de- 
clared his sister, largely for the reason that she 
felt it her duty to look after the interests of her 
gentle but rather unpractical aunt. “ At any rate 
we must see her. She may have been stealing things 
all her life — who knows?’” 

“ She works on the day shift,” further explained 
Carl. “ Her hours are from seven in the morning 


188 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

till four in the afternoon, with a half-hour off for 
lunch.” 

And where does she live? ” 

On Halsted Street ; I have her address in my 
pocket.” Whereupon Carl produced from his vest 
a slip of paper bearing the desired information, to 
Marje’s unrelenting satisfaction. 

‘‘ Do you suppose she goes right home as soon as 
her work is done ? ” queried the girl. 

“ I don’t know. When I went back to the store 
this morning I asked the time-keeper for her address 
and he gave it to me. I did not ask him any other 
questions.” 

‘‘ I hope you didn’t do anything to arouse sus- 
picion against her,” said Marje solicitously. 
“ We’ll give her every chance in the world to de- 
fend herself; I wouldn’t spoil her career for any- 
thing. But I’m positive she’s guilty.” 

‘‘ What are you going to do now ? ” 

“ We’re on our way to the garage to get Aunt 
Esther’s car,” enlightened Marje, her face set and 
determined, as it always was when she felt herself 
actuated by a just but painful motive. “ I asked 
her if we could ride till six. Aunt Esther and 
the little ones are taking the afternoon to have a 
good rest ; they’ve been out all morning. Rex 


In Hoisted Street 


189 


wanted to go along with us; but I promised him 
if he’d stay with Auntie and not get boisterous, 
I’d give him a nickel when I got 'back.” 

Rex always has to be bribed,” laughed Carl. 

I doubt if it’s good for him.” 

“ But we’re away from home, and I believe in 
making the sailing as easy as possible,” was his 
sister’s reasonable explanation. When I have 
such an important task ahead of me, I can’t waste 
time in arguing with him; he’s too much for me.” 

On this occasion, their driver seemed surprised 
when Marje asked to be driven to a remote number 
in Halsted Street; nevertheless, he complied, with 
his usual willingness, and was soon crossing the 
city to that teeming thoroughfare that has no end. 

‘‘ Possibly it’s miles and miles away,” Carl re- 
marked presently. 

And doubtless in a very wicked neighborhood,” 
prophesied Marje, who already had noted that they 
were entering a section from which the sun seemed 
to be excluded by tall and dingy tenement houses. 
The din of street-cars and the shouts of ragamuffins 
playing perilously close to the tracks agitated her; 
but she was determined not to turn back till Cora 
Parker had been dealt with as she deserved. At 
last they reached their destination, to find them- 


190 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

selves in front of a squalid frame building but two 
stories high. A fish market occupied the ground 
floor; upstairs were window-boxes containing a few 
red geraniums powdered with dust. 

“ I’m glad it’s such a small building,” said Marje. 
“ It doesn’t look half so frightening as one of those 
tall sky-scrapers.” 

‘‘ But you’re not going in alone,” insisted Carl, 
getting ready to ascend the steps with her. 

Yes — I prefer to go alone. Why should I be 
afraid when you and the chauffeur are right under 
the windows — and the windows are open? If 
anything should happen. I’ll call out, and you’ll 
be right on hand.” 

Carl could see no wisdom in Marje’s obdurate 
policy, nor did she herself at the time. She only 
knew that she wanted to see Cora Parker alone, 
without any one — even her brother — to interfere. 
Though a very modest girl, Marje had a good 
opinion of her cool-headedness, and considerable 
distrust of Carl’s impulsiveness. 

Up the rickety stairs she climbed, soon finding 
herself awaiting an answer to her knock at a flimsy 
door. Then she was confronted by an elderly 
woman with a pale face distorted by pain and 
anxiety. Yet Marje divined that she was in the 


In Hoisted Street 


191 


presence of a mother, and that the tawdry front 
room in which she stood was the shrine of a peaceful 
home. 

‘‘Come in,” invited the woman in a manner 
that Marje considered suspicious. Marje obeyed; 
she observed that the room was excessively glorified 
with cheap bric-a-brac, and that in one corner was 
a canary in a cage topped with an immense bow of 
red ribbon considerably soiled. There were also 
a few plaster casts, several cheap pictures, and a 
shelf of worn books and magazines. Yet, with all 
its tawdry furnishings, this apartment seemed to 
be dominated by some person with an artistic nature 
as yet uncultivated. 

“ Tm Marjorie Merrymaker,” said the girl kindly, 
but with all the dignity she could muster. “ Tm 
looking for a young lady named Miss Cora Parker.” 

“ Tm her mother,” announced the woman, sitting 
down upon a straight-backed chair and motioning 
Marje to a big rocker ornamented with a crocheted 
tidy and a silk head-rest. “ I expect Cora any min- 
ute. I don’t think I ever heard her speak of 
you.” 

“ I don’t know her so very well,” returned Marje, 
conscious that her color was mounting high. In 
vain did she try to regain her serenity in that little 


192 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

patch of domesticity which, in spite of its garish 
ornaments, must seem squalid on a rainy day. She 
glanced through the window, to make sure that Carl 
was within sound of her voice. Then she grew self- 
conscious. What if she should have to wait till 
dusk, then be compelled to return home with nothing 
to her credit save a mute interview with a very 
composed old lady? She shifted uneasily about as 
her eyes took in the old-fashioned bureau in the 
adjoining room; she wondered in which of its draw- 
ers reposed her aunt’s summer furs. Undoubtedly, 
the antique ring and the jet pendants were by that 
time in possession of some pawn-broker. 

“ Do you like this part of town,” Marje finally 
asked as she gazed at her reticent hostess. 

I don’t mind it, so long as Cora can come home 
after her work,” answered Mrs. Parker with char- 
acteristic caution. “Of course, we’d rather live 
among genteel people, but we haven’t got money 
enough. I used to work; but my rheumatiz came 
on, then Cora had to earn the livin’. She’s a smart 
girl, but she’s never had much chance. She’s awful 
fond of art; she made them paper flowers over 
yonder.” 

The woman pointed to a cheap vase containing 
artificial roses of all colors. Marje did not con- 


In Halsted Street 103 

sider them beautiful, but she appreciated the 
maker’s good intentions. 

‘‘ Cora’s father died when she was little,” went 
on the mother in a whining voice as she began to 
wax bolder. I tried to give her a little schoolin’, 
but it didn’t amount to much; she just had to go 
to work. She don’t take much to house-work or 
clerkin’ — she’s too fond of art. Wants to be 
makin’ purty things all the time. She makes all 
her own dresses and trims her own hats. Her new 
boss seems to think she’s got a future ahead of 
her — and Fm glad of it. Seems like Fve been 
such a dead weight to her — with my rheumatiz 
and all.” 

Marje tried to change the conversation; she was 
beginning to lose courage for once, and was sorry 
that she had undertaken to corner Cora Parker. 
But before she could say a dozen words more, the 
door opened and in came the object of her quest. 
She wore a faded dress of some soft and dark 
material, and a small hat trimmed with tiny pink 
roses. Cora seemed surprised at seeing a visitor; 
Marje rather awkwardly shook hands with her. 

“ I don’t suppose you remember me,” she began 
rather insipidly. 

“ I can’t place you just now*,” was the new- 


104 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

comer’s indifferent response as she took off her hat 
and gently placed it on the table. Then, without 
so much as looking at her mother, she sat down 
upon a puny sofa and proceeded to stare at Marje 
with those brazen eyes the Merrymakers had de- 
cided were untrustworthy. 

‘‘ You worked a day for my aunt, Mrs. Fortune, 
of Grand Boulevard,” floundered Marje, not wish- 
ing to sound too accusing. You left soon after 
we arrived from Pennsylvania to pay her a little 
visit.” 

“ Oh — I remember ! ” Cora was so indifferent 
as to yawn, though she tipped her rather bitter 
laugh with the retort : ‘‘ I thought you had a lot 

of nerve to go visitin’ — especially that terrible day 
when thirty folks dropped dead from sun-stroke.” 

Mrs. Parker seemed interested ; she gazed straight 
into her daughter’s face as she broke into the con- 
versation with the words : I didn’t know you ever 

worked for a woman by that name, Coe. There 
must be some mistake about it.” 

“ No, there ain’t,” declared Cora. “ I worked 
for her a whole day and got my pay. I didn’t tell 
you about it, Ma — but I hired out to do kitchen 
and house-work for a week or two, to fill in. I 
got so tired of the noisy factory and the fresh boss; 


In Hoisted Street 


195 


I wanted a change. I thought Fd lose my reason if 
I didn’t get a change. But I left my job with that 
woman on the Boulevard when I found that she was 
goin’ to put up a lot of company — all of ’em 
young-uns — and the weather so hot, nobody but 
a heathen would think of goin’ visitin’.” 

“ You left very suddenly,” essayed Marje in a 
small voice. 

'' Sure I did,” was the spirited confession. I 
thought I could stand the work at first. But it 
made me mad when all you kids came stringin’ in. 
Mind you, the woman never even told me you were 
cornin’. She ain’t got any more of a business head 
than a grasshopper. ’Most anybody would get 
panicky. It didn’t take me long to jam on my hat 
and take to my heels.” 

But you left without a minute’s notice,” per- 
sisted Marje. 

** Whose business was that ? ” flared Miss Parker. 
'‘And didn’t I have a right to change my mind? 
No more workin’ in a kitchen for me. Why, I 
wouldn’t have a minute to study art! I’ve had a 
hard time tryin’ to keep employed all the time ; and 
I’ve never been idle a minute. Why, I’ve been 
watchin’ the ' ads ’ in the daily papers for three 
years, and acceptin’ everything that comes along — 


196 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

even to workin’ in a kitchen for your aunt, though 
I don’t know any more about cookin’ than a jack- 
rabbit does about Sunday. Whenever I found a 
job that was easier than the one I had, I gave up 
the old one. You see I just had to earn money; 
Ma and I needed it. I’ve done everything from 
peddlin’ salve down to standin’ in a show-window 
on State Street and demonstratin’ — showin’ peo- 
ple how to close up a new kind of a foldin’-bed?” 

“ But my aunt, Mrs. Fortune — ” 

“ I’m square with her,” squelched Cora, her fury 
increasing. ‘‘ I worked a day, and got my dollar 
and a half, and spent it all to get liniment for Ma. 
If your aunt wants her money back, she’ll have to 
go to law — ” 

‘‘ Coe, you told me that you were doin’ artistic 
work,” chided the mother in a penetrating voice. 

Well, that depends how you look at it,” returned 
Cora, her rage temporarily subsiding. A person 
has to be some artist to make a house, like that 
woman’s on Grand Boulevard, look half-way decent. 
I’m mighty sure it would have took a dozen artists 
to make it look like anything. I worked till some- 
thing snapped in my back, and I ain’t been strong 
since.” 

I suppose the house did look rather upside- 


In Hoisted Street 197 

down,” granted Marje. Poor soul ! — the maid 
she had, before you, left her in the lurch, too.” 

“ I should think she would,” came the defiant 
retort. ‘‘Of all the jobs she had stacked up for 
me to do! And she’s the most squeamish woman 
I ever saw. Dresses like a doll, and doesn’t know 
enough to shut a window when it rains in. , She 
can’t tell the difference between a pork-chop and a 
spare-rib. Anybody that would work for her ought 
to have a pension from the gover’ment.” 

“ But she’s improved a great deal since then,” 
defended Marje. “ It’s wonderful how she’s taken 
hold. We don’t need any outside help any more, 
and when we leave she’s going to shut up her apart- 
ment and take a trip. We’ve been coaxing her to 
go to Mackinac.” 

Cora was not especially interested in Mrs. For- 
tune’s contemplated trip to Michigan ; she sat curling 
her lip disdainfully, though her eyes rested admir- 
ingly upon her own handiwork, the faded red-and- 
blue-paper roses in the gaudy vase. “ I have a fine 
new job now, and I can snap my fingers at any- 
body,” she went on presently. 

“ I know it,” returned Marje with exceeding cool- 
ness. “I hope you’ll succeed — and you will, if 
you’re honest.” 


198 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Then she cast down her eyes and shuddered as 
she awaited the response. But it was evident that 
Cora Parker was not very subtle, nor was she sen- 
sitively suspicious. Marje’s use of the word “ hon- 
est did not even produce the flicker of an eye- 
lash ; Cora simply went on irrelevantly : “ When 

I get more money saved up, Pm goin’ to take Ma 
out of this old pen here; we’ll move into a better 
neighborhood. It ain’t fair for some girls to have 
everything they want, while others have to work 
their fingers off to get along — and try to keep 
respectable — and nobody to help ’em. When a 
poor girl has looks, it seems that the whole world 
tries to get the best of her. Why, suppose I should 
slip — who’d care, except Ma? And who’d do a 
thing to help me? Not even Ma ; she’s too poor.” 

Marje made no comment. Feeling herself on 
questionable ground, she did not want to run the 
risk of inflaming Cora’s temper still more, especially 
on such a hot day. Yet she must get to the point. 

My — my aunt doesn’t think you treated her 
right,” she managed to say as she drew still closer 
to the open window. 

What’s that ? ” Miss Parker’s voice was thin 
and sharp, her eyes ablaze. “ Nice thanks she gives 
me for tidyin’ up her place — fairly ruinin’ my 


In Hoisted Street 


199 


health to get her house straightened ! Didn’t I give 
her notice — like any lady would? Now tell me 
what you’re gettin’ at when you say your aunt thinks 
I didn’t treat her square.” 

“ You left her just at dinner-time — ” 

You’re right I did,” intervened Cora, her voice 
trembling with indignation. “ I’d have left her be- 
fore — even before she came back from the station 
with a whole load of kids; but I needed my day’s 
pay. So I stayed and worked till my time was up. 
And why should I stay and get dinner? I’m sure 
it was too hot for anybody to eat; I couldn’t have 
swallowed a mouthful, even if somebody had dared 
me to.” 

‘‘ But my sister and I got the dinner,” said Marje 
with a smile meant to disarm Cora’s rage of its 
sting. ‘‘ Fortunately we know how to cook.” 

‘‘Then what you findin’ fault about? Ain’t life 
bad enough for me, without havin’ you come in to 
make calls when I’m dead tired?” 

“ I don’t want to make things harder for you,” 
resumed Marje, as yet feeling nothing substantial 
to rest upon, “ but in this world we all have to look 
out for our families. That’s why I’m here. I 
came to see that justice is done to my aunt. She’s 
not very strong, you know — and she needs my 


200 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

help. I — I thought you and I could talk it over. 
It happens that my brother knows your employer, 
Mr. Smith — and Mr. Smith says you’re a prom- 
ising girl — and that you’ll make a success in 
life — ” 

“Oh, I see what you’re after!” Cora’s over- 
whelming scorn can only be imagined. “ You’re a 
nice one — you are ! ” she railed, advancing towards 
Marje, who seemed to be getting ready to jump 
through the window backwards. “ So you want to 
get even with me for leavin’ your aunt! You go 
to work and find out my employer — and you’re 
try in’ to make me lose my job. But let me tell 
you, young lady — if you lay one straw in my way, 
I’ll make you regret it — ” 

“ Please be calm,” demanded Marje, much re- 
lieved when the older woman pulled her daughter 
back to the tattered sofa. Then she decided to 
settle the matter as expeditiously as possible, no 
matter how sharp Miss Parker’s teeth or how long 
her nails. She braced herself and came back in a 
voice unusually imperative. “ Why did you go to 
my aunt’s house for a position? Who was your 
reference? ” 

“ Why, you little infant — your aunt put an ‘ ad ’ 
in the newspaper ! ” 



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In Hoisted Street 


201 


Marje staggered. I guess Auntie must have • 
forgotten she did it,” she said with a dismal laugh. 

“ Sure, she did,” cried Cora ironically. ‘‘ She 
told me she had a running * ad ’ in all the papers. 
It must cost her a lot of money, and she must have 
a lot of trouble to keep help. But no wonder! 
She’s as flighty as a pigeon, and she don’t know a 
thing about business. I could have got the best 
of her if I’d been that kind; she ought to have a 
guardeen.” 

I’m her guardian now,” answered Marje, more 
confident, now that she had to be more aggressive, 
in order to defend her aunt. “ In fact, we’ve all 
been taking an interest in Aunt Esther. And she’s 
getting very competent, too. She isn’t so forget- 
ful as she was, and she doesn’t have so many of 
those frightful headaches. She’s really a darling; 
we’re very fond of her — ” 

* I don’t care a piece of bees- wax about your aunt. 
But if you’ve poisoned my boss against me — ” 

“ Now please be quiet. Miss Parker,” interrupted 
Marje with rising voice. In truth, she was getting 
ready to call to her brother. “ All you need to do 
is to see that my aunt gets back those summer furs 
and that ring, and — and a few other things that 
came up missing.” 


202 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

‘*Cora!” shrieked the mother; she covered her 
face with her bony hands and began to heave con- 
vulsively. 

Marje realized that her tongue had slipped; also 
that she had precipitated a turmoil that no girl of 
her years could handle gracefully, no matter how 
just her cause. Yet she took a firm stand and 
held it even when the mother cried out irefully: 
‘‘I’ll have you arrested — right on this spot — 
for slanderin’ my daughter ! She never stole 
nothin’ — ” 

“ I never heard of anything so mean,” whimpered 
Cora as she rose from the sofa and tore herself from 
her mother’s clutch. “ The last thing I did was to 
straighten up your aunt’s bedroom. She had her 
furs and all her valuables strung-all over the bureau 
— everything helter-skelter — like some women do 
when they depend upon their hired help to look 
after ’em. I even put ’em away for her. And now 
she tries to make out that I stole ’em ! ” 

“ Where did you put them? ” persisted Marje. 

“ I dumped ’em into that writin’-desk by the win- 
dah. Lifted the lid and tossed ’em in. Didn’t have 
time to find out where they belonged.” 

Marje felt the shock of another great surprise; 
yet she was resolved to acquit herself with dignity, 


In Halsted Street 


208 


and at the same time to make reparation for the 
agitation she had produced in that squalid home in 
Halsted Street. Again she observed that the con- 
sensus of opinion held by several people that a cer- 
tain person is a thief does not necessarily prove 
true. 

I’m so relieved,” she said, with another tortured 
laugh. “ And Aunt Esther will be immensely 
pleased. You see, her dead husband gave her the 
ring, and she got those jet pendants in Rome. We 
were very stupid not to look in the writing-desk. 
But who would think of looking in a writing-desk 
for furs and such things? Besides, Aunt Esther 
never uses that desk. It’s just an antique — some- 
thing to look at, and take up room. I — ” 

“ You have a lot of impudence,” Cora asserted 
with a mocking laugh. “ I’d look the whole house 
over — even to the insides of the salt-cellars — be- 
fore I’d accuse anybody of stealin’ — especially a 
poor workin’ girl.” 

Even in her perturbation Marje was broad enough 
to see that Miss Parker was right about it. Con- 
sequently, her face reddened till it began to look 
that Marje was more guilty than the girl she had 
accused. Yet she said with sincerity no pne could 
question : ‘‘ I’m VSry sorry. I — I hope you’ll 


204 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

forgive me. You know, I didn’t actually accuse 
you of stealing; I just asked if you knew where 
the things were. Won’t you forgive me?” 

After much sullen hesitation and a great show of 
injured dignity, Cora and her mother accepted 
Marje’s hand-shakes, though both still continued 
to mutter threats vibrant with courts and law-suits. 

ni make it all right with you,” Marje assured 
them as she hurried down the stairs and into the 
motor-car. Never before had she been so glad to 
get back to Carl, or to feel that the car was in mo- 
tion. 

“ Well, did you get Aunt Esther’s things? ” asked 
Carl, somewhat derisively. 

“ She said she didn’t take them,” was the uncon- 
vincing reply. 

It wasn’t a woman’s job,” further persecuted 
Carl. ‘‘ I thought you’d let her take you in. Un- 
doubtedly she’s pawned them by this time.” 

But Marje obstinately refused to say anything 
more on the subject, despite Carl’s scornful ridicule, 
and the frequent reminder that a girl’s place was 
at home. 

When they arrived at their aunt’s cozy apart- 
ment, they were met at the door by Mrs. Fortune, 
who seemed to be unusually vivacious. ‘‘ I’m so 


In Hoisted Street 205 

glad you’re here, Marje,” she cried. ‘‘ WeVe been 
having a jubilee — Jean, Rex, and I.” 

Marje followed her straight to the back bedroom, 
where she discovered that the lid of her aunt’s 
writing-desk had been turned down, thus revealing 
all the missing articles, as well as a gold lorgnette 
and several other articles of even greater value. 

I found these things less than an hour ago,” 
babbled Mrs. Fortune. “ So you see you were 
wrong about Cora’s suspicious-looking eyes. What 
is more, I found several other things I hadn’t even 
missed. I’ve always been so careless and so for- 
getful. But I’m not going to be that way any 
more.” 

“ I’m very glad — for many reasons,” replied 
Marje, at the same time casting a restraining glance 
at Carl. “ I knew you’d find them. Something 
told me you would.” 

And to think we looked into every conceivable 
receptacle except that desk ! ” rapturously went on 
Mrs. Fortune as she kissed the antique ring and 
put it on her finger. “ Weren’t we a couple of in- 
competents ? ” 

Marje agreed that they were. It was humiliating 
to recall the hot hours she had spent in rummaging 
her aunt’s possessions, all the time convinced that 


206 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Cora Parker was responsible for the missing articles. 

Why didn’t you let me help hunt?” inquired 
Jean, hurt that a robbery had been kept from her 
knowledge, notwithstanding that she lo/ed excite- 
ment. 

“ Aunt Esther wouldn’t let me,” answered Marje 
with unusual petulance. 

“ We didn’t want to spoil your good time, dear,” 
explained Mrs. Fortune, giving Jean a consuming 
hug. 

“ But you should have let me in on the secret,” 
persisted Jean, battling hard against her inclination 
to pout. “If we’d all worked together, we’d have 
found the things in no time at all. Bess says Marje 
is very level-headed and a good manager; but she 
never could find anything — not even if it was right 
under her nose.” 


CHAPTER VII 


AN UNEXPECTED FAMILY REUNION 

Gath Singleton spent one entire afternoon 
showing Carl through one of his father’s clubs. 
Cool and luxurious was this place on a warm day; 
at least Carl thought so — especially while he was 
playing round and splashing in a marble pool. For 
he loved the water, and had been well trained back 
at the old swimming-hole near Johnstown, where 
on summer days a legion of boys dive into its choco- 
late-colored depths and think there is no sport on 
earth quite so satisfactory. At this marble pool 
of a very exclusive club, he found that the boys 
yelled just as lustily as those back at the old swim- 
ming-hole, and that they dived backwards from elas- 
tic planks and did as many other feats requiring 
confidence and physical strength; yet all the time 
they were being closely watched by their director 
— a brawny man in black trunks, and several at- 
tendants peering at them through the windows of 
a drying-room stacked with sheets and Turkish 
towels. 


207 


208 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

‘‘ IVe been wanting a swim ever since I came to 
Chicago, and now I’m having it,” Carl rejoiced, 
as for the moment he and Gath were sitting on the 
tessellated floor surrounding the pool and watching 
the merry bathers. ‘‘ You’re a lucky boy, Gath, to 
have the use of such a splendid club.” 

“ I suppose so,” replied Gath, not very heartily. 

Father has belonged to this club since he came of 
age, and we youngsters have the privilege of com- 
ing in on Saturday afternoons and making ourselves 
at home. This club is as perfect as the best ma- 
terials and all modern devices can make it; yet 
I’d rather go out to Wilson Beach, where everybody 
else goes, and jump into the Lake. The air is so 
much fresher there, and a person can grovel in the 
sand and bake in the sun. Besides, I shouldn’t have 
to be bothered with a physical director over there. 
The man with the black trunks watches us as if we 
were so many criminals, so we won’t splash too 
hard, or our temperatures get too high or too low. 
He thinks he knows it all, and that he’s the only 
person that can swim well. He’s such a big lobster 
that, after he takes a dive, there isn’t much water 
left in the pool for the rest of us.” 

Carl looked at the physical director. He was 
indeed a stocky man, with a big neck and that kind 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 209 

of square chin that suggests domination. At 
present he was taking a boy through a course that re- 
quired much pulling of weights and other strenuous 
exercises. 

‘‘ Expand your chest, sir,” the director was say- 
ing. “ And work harder. Take it a bit slower, 
and contract your muscles till they almost snap. 
Now boys, don’t all dive at once; you’ll get tangled 
up and ril have to jump in and fish you out. Mr. 
Martin, let me take your temperature before you get 
into the water; you’ve just come out of the steam- 
room, and ought to cool gradually before you bathe. 
Better stand under a luke-warm spray for a mo- 
ment.” 

‘‘ I don’t wonder you prefer Wilson Beach,” said 
Carl sympathetically. “ It must be aggravating to 
have a man standing around telling you just what 
movements to make. But the club itself is won- 
derful; I think I like the rest-rooms, the library, 
and everything about it except the physical di- 
rector.” 

Now what shall we do ? ” went on the 
inexhaustible Gath. ‘'We’ve bowled and played 
checkers, tried squash and knocked the balls around 
on the billiard table, jumped leather horses and 
hung on straps in the gymnasium, read the daily 


210 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

papers and had a bath. I suggest that when we 
finish our plunge we have a nap.^^ 

But I have to go home at six,” said Carl rather 
regretfully. “ Ned will be there for dinner. The 
poor fellow is still drudging away at that Conven- 
tion. I wanted to help him, but there was nothing 
I could do. Aunt Esther and Rex are at Jackson 
Park; they expect to visit the Field Museum and 
Chicago University. And Marje and Jean are at 
a girls’ party over at Prairie Avenue. I don’t see 
any reason why I shouldn’t stay down town a little 
later, though I promised to be back by six.” 

“Just be thankful you didn’t have to go to the 
girls’ party,” said Gath with ^ shiver ; he could think 
of nothing more disagreeable on a hot afternoon. 
“ I suppose they’ll wear their big hair-bows and play 
‘ London Bridge.’ Stupid, I call it.” 

“ Oh, I don’t know.” Carl wanted to be square, 
notwithstanding that he did not approve of the 
events that make a girls’ party a great success. 
“ Marje and Jean love parties better than anything 
else, unless it’s a family reunion.” 

“ Now let’s take another plunge and then go in 
for a nap,” suggested Gath with a yawn. 

“ Let’s do,” consented Carl, also yawning. 
“ That hot-room made me feel weak.” 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 211 

‘‘Yes; it’s enough to make anybody ill, even to 
think of a hot-room. Looks so silly to see a man 
sitting in a close room, with a wet towel on his 
head and his feet in a bucket.” 

Then they took another dip in the tepid water, 
after which performance they went into a drying- 
room where two attendants almost wore away their 
skins with coarse towels, wrapped them in sheets, 
and led them to a dark cooling-room where they 
placed them side by side on small cots. All was 
quiet save the ticking of a clock somewhere in the 
distance. Drowsy from the lull and his recent ex- 
ertions, Carl soon fell into a deep slumber; but not 
till he had thought over each member of his family 
and wondered what they were all doing at that time. 

Finally he was awakened by one of the attendants 
switching on a light. “ Good gracious ! ” he cried 
as he sat bolt upright. “ I must have slept several 
hours.” 

“ Well, don’t worry about that,” said Gath 
sleepily. “ It’s only seven.” Then he turned over 
and settled himself for another nap. 

“ But I promised to be back at Aunt Esther’s by 
six,” protested Carl, beginning to feel the remorse 
that always dogged any of his failures to perform 
a necessary duty. “ Ned will be disappointed, and 


212 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

they’ll think something has happened to me. Hurry 
up — let’s get dressed ! ” 

“ Don’t get excited,” yawned Gath. “ You slept 
so sound I couldn’t bear to wake you; so I tele- 
phoned the house that you weren’t coming home 
for dinner.” 

‘‘ What ! ” Though Carl was trying hard to be 
a model guest, he rebelled against this disposition 
of his host to meddle with his own affairs. He 
jumped from the cot and began to dress. Seldom 
it was that Carl ever missed taking the last meal 
of the day with his family. 

Don’t be such a molly-coddle,” sneered Gath, 
though he laughed when he said it. “ It’s a queer 
pass when a boy of fifteen can’t stay out for dinner 
once in a while. You’re a good fellow, but you 
care too much about what your folks think. You 
haven't any more freedom than Rex has — and you 
know it.” 

Carl reflected for a moment. He wondered if 
Gath’s accusation had truth in it; perhaps after all, 
he had been obeying too many dictations made by 
his family, considering that he was going on six- 
teen. He thought strict discipline very good for 
girls, yet it did not seem to apply to a strapping 
lad soon to go forth to fight the battles of life. 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 213 

I suppose when you get to be a man/’ taunted 
Gath, who evidently was reflecting Carl’s thought, 
“ you’ll still be under petticoat management. I sup- 
pose you’ll expect Bessie to telephone you every few 
minutes, to ask you how your temperature is — 
just like that physical director out there in the pool. 
And Marjie will keep on reminding you that your 
tie is crooked, and that you ought to leave your 
shoes at the front door when it’s muddy. And 
Jean will still continue to sit on your lap and 
cuddle you, no matter if she gets to be a fat woman 
with gray hair — ” 

‘‘And what about Ned?” Carl was amused at 
Gath’s sarcastic but well-meant arraignment. 

“ Ned is as bad as the girls,” declared Gath. 
“ You see, he thinks he has to set wholesome ex- 
amples before you, all the time — just because he’s 
older.” 

“ But he’s so kind and indulgent ; and he’s been 
a father to me so long. I — ” ‘ 

“ At any rate you’re not going home for din- 
ner,” Gath interrupted with a show of authority. 
“ We’ll stay down town at one of the big restau- 
rants with electric fans and have our meals served 
to us. I tried to show you too much Chicago to- 
day; so after a bath, you naturally needed a nap. 


214 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

And now you’re faint for the want of food, and 
must have it right away. You’ll feel better when 
you hear the music and tackle some spaghetti and 
a veal cutlet browned t5 a turn. You need a little 
vacation away from that family of yours, though 
you don’t realize it. Besides, they’ll appreciate you 
all the more when you get back.” 

Carl imagined there was wisdom in Gath’s advice, 
yet he could not easily succumb to his friend’s way 
of thinking. It seemed that his family was bound 
to him by uncertain ties that might be broken at any 
minute, and that their sojourn together was sure 
to be more or less brief. Soon they would be scat- 
tered, like the leaves wafted from a bough in the 
chill autumn breeze. Still he wanted to take din- 
ner in a down-town restaurant ; and his desire grace- 
fully led the way to his resignation. In truth, he 
grew merrier than Gath as they finished dressing. 

‘‘ We’ll go to a good show, too,” added the 
tempter, by this time wide awake. 

“I couldn’t do that; they’d all worry,” laughed 
Carl. 

Ridiculous ! ” scoffed Gath, mistaking Carl’s 
conscientiousness for sentimentality. You don’t 
seem to be able to slip your apron-string control. 
I feel sorry for you. But I’ll not insist on your 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 215 

going to a theater to-night; it’s too warm. Then 
'besides, my pocket-book is too weak to stand both 
the dinner and a show. So we’ll ride home in a 
taxi. My father has a charge account with the 
Taxi Company, and I use it on special occasions. 
want you to see where I live, and look over my 
collections. I have everything from stamps to 
weapons of war — enough to stock a museum.” 

“ Young gentlemen, how can a man sleep when 
you keep buzzing that way?” Both boys were 
startled at this plaint hurled at them from a dark 
corner by a deep bass voice. They had supposed 
themselves to be alone, only to find that another 
club member had been trying to take a nap before 
dinner. 

‘‘ Let’s go,” grumbled Gath. ** There doesn’t 
seem to be any place in Chicago for a boy unless 
it’s at some public play-ground. I envy your 
swimming-hole at Johnstown where you can yell all 
you please.” 

Carl, however, took time to apologize to the man, 
then followed Gath out through the office and into 
the street. Eager he was to get to some cool res- 
taurant where there were jolly people and good 
music — to say nothing of a veal cutlet and spa- 
ghetti. 


216 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

But in the meantime some unusual happenings 
were taking place at the home of Gath Singleton 
out on Drexel Boulevard. This stronghold was one 
of those nice old residences one finds scattered 
through the South Side — a dignified mansion sug- 
gesting the best traditions and the greatest regard 
for public opinion. As Mr. and Mrs. Singleton 
were away for several weeks, a part of this abode 
had been closed; yet a few open windows and sev- 
eral rugs airing on a balcony were evidence that 
some of the servants were still at work and at the 
same time enjoying their summer relaxation. 

Aunt Esther Fortune was inclined to think that 
something terrible had happened to Carl. The past 
few days spent with her relatives, however, had kept 
her from making this fear public property ; yet Rex, 
young as he was, knew that something heavy was 
on her mind. He had seen that same look on Bess’s 
face when she was trying to keep something from 
Jean and him — something that might unnecessarily 
worry them and spoil their spirit of play. Yet he 
remained quiet as he and his aunt rode up to the 
luxurious Singleton home, where Mrs. Fortune rang 
the bell twice before the housekeeper appeared. She 
was plump and elderly, also rather severe of coun- 
tenance till she saw that the caller was an esteemed 


An Uneoopected Family Reunion 217 

friend of the family and her charge ; then she smiled 
broadly and invited the callers into the drawing- 
room. Rex noted that the windows were tightly 
closed, and that each piece of furniture was in a 
white slip as if it had just been gotten ready for 
bed. 

“ I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs. Brocker,” said 
Aunt Esther, at first refusing to sit down. I 
know the Singletons are away — but I want to see 
Gath.” 

He left the house early this mornin’, and he 
hasn’t got back yet,” answered the housekeeper. 

Please sit down, lady.” 

Mrs. Fortune sank wearily upon a corner of the 
couch, and Rex doubled up beside her ; Mrs. Brocker 
remained standing. ‘‘ You see,” she continued, he 
had to stay in Chicago and make up a study or two 
he failed in; he has a tutor. He wants to enter 
‘ prep ’ in the fall. His older brother is supposed 
to look after him, but Basil had to leave to-day for 
Pe-o-ry. I s’pose Gath is takin’ advantage of his 
absence and havin’ a good time; he does that once 
in a while. It’s now six o’clock, and he hasn’t 
’phoned.” 

Mrs. Fortune, to say the least, was puzzled. A 
week before she might have suffered from a nervous 


218 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

headache as the result of such a shock. B.ut how 
could she give way when Rex’s round eyes were 
fixed upon her in such a questioning stare ? So she 
smiled at him disarmingly, and he began teetering 
up and down on the soft couch as he had seen fat 
people do while riding in padded motor-cars. 
‘‘ Gath telephoned me scarcely a half-hour ago,” 
she went on. “ I didn’t have a dhance to inquire ; 
but from the way he spoke, I thought he and my 
nephew must be here. I came right over to see 
him. It’s silly, I suppose; but I feel it my duty to 
look after my dead sister’s children — especially 
when they’re visiting me. So Rex and I rode over 
to take Carl home in the car.” 

Even then, Mrs. Brocker was not sure as to what 
the visitor wanted; she looked puzzled and rather 
ill at ease. 

Are we goin’ to eat supper here. Aunt Esther ? ” 
inquired Rex in his shrillest tones. Furthermore, 
he acted as if any provender the motherly house- 
keeper might choose to provide would be very ac- 
ceptable; she looked like a woman very expert in 
making pies and cookies. 

’ “ No, dear, we’re not going to stay,” said Mrs. 
Fortune softly, even in her stress of mind stopping 
long enough to repress a smile with her dainty 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 219 

handkerchief. We want to find Carl; but I don’t 
know how we’re going to do it. I think he must 
have forgotten that he was to come home in good 
time to-night; I’m sure he had no intention of stay- 
ing away. I left a note for Ned; he’ll find it when 
he gets home. I suppose I shouldn’t have told him 
the particulars, but I learned long ago that the 
Merrymakers never work in the dark. And I tele- 
phoned Marje at the party and told her about it — 
and to go right ‘home and look after the house* till 
I get back. I hope she won’t worry, too.” 

‘‘ I hope she’ll get supper,” said Rex, loudly 
enough for the housekeeper to hear and have com- 
passion for him. 

But Mrs. Brocker stood as one in a trance. She 
believed Mrs. Fortune was off her head; possibly 
she was suffering from the heat. 

“ I hardly know just what to do now,” Mrs. 
Fortune went on with a helpless gesture; she gazed 
appealingly at the housekeeper. 

“ You don’t s’pose Carl got run over — do you? ” 
suggested Rex, so candidly that his aunt clapped 
her hands to her head and almost shrieked, just as 
she formerly did when some one spoke to her too 
suddenly, or the steam-radiator began to clank. 

Of course not, Rex,” she managed to say. 


220 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ You mustn’t think such terrible things. Carl is 
with Gath, and they’ll surely be here before long — 
or telephone.” 

I don’t think nothin’ bad has happened,” said 
Mrs. Brocker, laying one hand on the pedestal oc- 
cupied by a statue of Diana — a very ghostly image, 
in a muslin slip that permitted only the pale toes 
of the goddess to be exposed to view. ” And I 
don’t know what to advise you, lady, unless it’s to 
take the little boy home and get him some supper. 
Gath don’t bother to- ’phone, when his folks are 
away, and sometimes he stays out late.” 

But before Aunt Esther could say another word, 
the door-bell rang and the housekeeper hurried out 
into the hall; presently she returned and said that 
two gentlemen had called for Mrs. Fortune. 

Aunt Esther uttered a cry of relief when she saw 
Ned coming into the room. He was followed by a 
very hot, tired, and hungry-looking Jack Gore. 
“ I’m so glad you came, Ned! ” she cried, “ though 
I really didn’t want you to be worried. But I can’t 
stand it a minute longer — I’ll have to tell you the 
worst! Hardly had Rex and I got home from our 
ride when the telephone rang. Gath Singleton — 
at least it sounded like Gath’s voice — said Carl 
wouldn’t be home for dinner. He said Carl was 


An Unexpected Fa/tnily Reunion 221 

suffering from the climate — that he was in bed! 
Do you suppose he's laid up somewhere with a sun- 
stroke?” 

''In bed?” Ned stood stock still, in order to 
collect his tired wits for speedy and efficient guid- 
ance. This must be accomplished at once., thus spar- 
ing Aunt Esther from a nervous headache and Rex 
from a crying spell. For Rex — though he seldom 
shed tears — never knew enough to stop whenever 
he once got started; moreover, he always gave 
vent to his grief in such a noisy and exasperating 
fashion, Ned feared that a demonstration would 
surely draw a crowd in such a congested place as 
Chicago. 

" Perhaps I misunderstood him,” went on Mrs. 
Fortune, to relieve Ned’s anxiety; " he hung up the 
receiver before I could inquire into the particulars. 
I didn’t mean to alarm you, Ned dear; I’m sorry 
I wrote you a note that distressed you. And I came 
right over here. What else could I do? But the 
boys aren’t here, and the housekeeper hasn’t the 
remotest idea where they are. Oh, dear — I hope it 
wasn’t a sun-stroke I ” 

I don’t believe it could be that bad,” said Ned, 
though he spoke rather faintly. Then he gained 
Strength as he went on in words that sounded grim 


222 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

and threatening: ** If he isn’t actually ill, I’ll find 
out why he stirred up this useless alarm.” 

** Let us hope nothing serious has happened ; don’t 
worry, Ned,” soothed his aunt, even at that mo- 
ment finding it solacing to comfort somebody else. 
‘‘ I’m only thinking how you must feel about it. 
I hope Marje and Jean weren’t frightened when I 
telephoned them.” 

“ Naturally they would be ill-at-ease,” said Ned. 
“ They returned from the party before Jack and I 
started out to find the Singleton residence. Marje 
seemed especially distrustful, and I had to tell her 
what was in your note — that something evidently 
had happened to Carl.” 

“ Oh, poor Marje — and poor little Jean! ” burst 
forth Mrs. Fortune before she could restrain her- 
self ; whereupon Rex took his cue and at once began 
indulging in what the other Merrymakers most de- 
tested — one of his prolonged bawling spells.” 
But neither his aunt nor his brother were inclined 
to pay him the attention he had counted upon 
getting — a fact that added temper to his exhibition 
and changed his mournful tune to a higher key. 
Then Jack Gore came in from the hall; he was limp 
and perspiring, coal specks sociably mingled with 
his brown freckles, and his shoes were covered 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 223 

with dust, notwithstanding his efforts to mop it off 
with his handkerchief. 

‘‘What shall we do, Mr. Gore?’’ implored Mrs. 
Fortune, the velvet orchids in her smart hat bobbing 
frantically. 

“ I think it’s best to keep quiet and wait,” advised 
Jack Gore, though he was aware that Patience never 
had a more remiss disciple than he himself. “ It’s 
silly to worry. Carl just decided to stay out a 
while longer, and Gath did the telephoning. What’s 
the use of scaring this poor little kiddie to death? 
Come here, Rex, you rascal, and get on my lap.” 

Soon Rex was sobbing on Jack’s lap — the kind 
of sobs produced by a youngster’s consciousness of 
anxiety, heat, hunger, and a desire to contribute 
more than his share to a dramatic moment. “If the 
boys don’t turn up soon,” said Jack, “ we’ll notify 
the police and run ’em down ; it will serve ’em right 
for playing such a prank, though I’ve played the 
game myself when I was their age. Don’t worry, 
Mrs. Fortune; you’re just nervous, and you have a 
journalistic imagination. Marje will telephone if 
Carl turns up there. She’s as cool as a lake breeze. 
She wouldn’t flinch a muscle if a burglar knocked 
us all down one by one; she’d keep cool, so she 
could look after us, and she’d make it mighty warm 


224 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

for the burglar. Then she’d give vent to tears of 
joy when it was all over.” 

But I can’t believe the boys are to blame,” per- 
sisted Mrs. Fortune. I’m positive Gath said in a 
strange voice — a very thick and unusual voice — 
that Carl had just been put to bed.” 

The other occupants of the room, with the ex- 
ception of Rex, stared ruefully at one another. 
‘‘ So many things happen in Chicago,” she added 
significantly. 

If I thought there was anything the matter with 
Mr. Gath, I’d ’phone his brother at Pe-o-r-y,” put 
in the housekeeper, beginning to take on the serious- 
ness imbuing her unbidden guests. “ And if I 
’phoned Mr. Basil, I know he’d want me to wire 
their parents ; Mr. Basil never takes much responsi- 
bility when it comes to Mr. Gath.” 

By this time the gardener and the laundress were 
also in the drawing-room; they were democratically 
mingling with the visitors, and both were inclined 
to think that the worst had happened. 

Can’t you think of some place where Gath 
might possibly be?” asked Ned of the puzzled 
housekeeper. “ Where does he spend his spare 
time?” 

'' I don’t know,” was the vexed reply. He 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 2^5 

goes to hundreds of places, and he has more spare 
time than anybody I know. He’s apt to be ’most 
anywhere except with his tutor.” 

These suppositions of Mrs. Brocker seemed to 
grow more and more disconcerting as they sat there 
waiting. The good woman also thought it was not 
unlikely that Gath might have decided to go to an 
amateur prize fight, or out paddling in a flimsy 
canoe. But before Ned could voice another sugges- 
tion the door-bell again pealed forth. 

“ It must be they,” said Jack Gore, only to look 
aghast like the others when a tall man in a crash 
suit and carrying a small black valise entered the 
room and swept the mixed assemblage with inquir- 
ing gaze. 

It’s Dr. Valentine! ” cried Mrs. Fortune, much 
relieved. Good evening. Doctor. Ned, I neg- 
lected to tell you that — that as soon as I heard 
about Carl being put to bed — and all that terrible 
talk — I telephoned my physician to come over here 
at once. Please don’t be angry. I thought we 
would surely need his services in — in case of an 
emergency.” 

“ He’s surely welcome if he can help us out of 
our trouble,” said Jack Gore with a snicker. 

“ I received a telephone call about five o’clock 


226 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

from young Singleton,” Aunt Esther began explain- 
ing to the nonplussed physician. “ He said that 
my nephew was under the weather — had to be put 
to bed. Of course, I couldn’t imagine where Gath 
would be likely to put him to bed unless it were 
right here in his own home. So I came over. We 
haven’t any clue to the whereabouts of the dear 
boys yet — but we’re hoping and praying to hear 
the truth soon. But please don’t desert me. Doc- 
tor; you’ve always been so prompt and faithful 
whenever I needed your services.” 

Dr. Valentine was not particularly alarmed; he 
had grown accustomed to Mrs. Fortune’s frequent 
but unnecessary calls for aid in the recent past, and 
had always correctly surmised that the good lady 
was more in need of good cheer than anything else ; 
nevertheless, he seemed to be more and more in 
doubt as he sat down by the marble Diana and 
gazed at the anxious faces all about him. 

Then the door-bell clanged again, and the over- 
wrought housekeeper waddled out to satisfy its de- 
mand. Everybody held his breath till Marje and 
Jean appeared, both pale and entirely wanting in 
composure; Jean had been crying, and Marje evi- 
dently had been trying to quiet her. Never had 
they received such a cool reception into any drawing- 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 227 

room; possibly for the reason that they had not 
been invited there. 

We’ve all gone too far,” said Ned sternly. 

We’re perfect geese. Why didn’t you girls stay 
at home ? ” 

‘‘ Well, why didn’t the rest of you come home? ” 
fairly shrieked Jean, flying straight into the arms 
of her big brother. “We want to know what’s the 
matter with Carl. You mustn’t keep things from 
us ; it never pays, you know.” 

“ Even Mother Marje has lost her nerve,” play- 
fully taunted Jack Gore as he glanced at the statue- 
like Marje, every whit as pale and rigid as Diana. 

“ We couldn’t wait a minute longer,” declared 
Marje, flopping down on the couch by her aunt. 
“ I thought the clock would never strike seven — 
but it did. How is Carl -r- where is he ? ” 

“ Out having a good time,” bantered Jack Gore, 
tweaking one of Jean’s ringlets and rolling his eyes 
around in a funny way behind his tortoise-shell 
glasses, in an attempt to hnitate Marje in her se- 
riousness. 

“ I don’t believe it,” said the excitable Jean, run- 
ning over to Mrs. Fortune. “ Why is Aunt Esther 
looking so miserable — and Ned — and Rex has 
been crying?” 


228 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

There was no reply save a loud sniff from the 
laundress, who was still looking on. 

‘‘We heard the boys calling out an extra,’’ con- 
tinued Jean, with a convulsive little quaver in her 
voice. “ It was something about a man being killed 
by a bandit. We were afraid it might be — ” 

“ Nonsense,” railed Ned. “ What an idea you 
girls have gotten into your heads ! It’s just a scare, 
.so people will buy newspapers. Like as not the 
man was killed somewhere in California. Besides, 
Carl isn’t a man — just a young and foolish boy. 
Now Jean, can’t you see Aunt Esther is worried? 
She’ll not pay your way to Chicago any more if 
you go on like that.” 

“ But how did you get the address of this house? ” 
asked Aunt Esther, her curiosity surmounting her 
anxiety. 

“We looked it up in the telephone book,” ex- 
plained Marje. “ We’d have been here sooner; but 
we had to get a street-car, and the six o’clock rush 
isn’t over yet.” 

As another half-hour rolled by, the conversation 
grew still more disconnected and excitable. Indeed, 
these visitors might have continued monopolizing 
the Singleton drawing-room for an indefinite period, 
had not the physician finally convinced Mrs. Fortune 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 229 

that he had other patients who needed him a great 
deal more than did her nephew. During this in- 
terval Jack Gore had been begging Mrs. Brocker 
not to call up Gath’s intimate friends, simply for 
the reason that Gath’s reputation as an obedient and 
a home-loving son was at stake. “ The boy will 
never forgive us if we stir up his friends,” added 
Jack. And his friends will guy him unmercifully. 
You know how the dear public loves gossip.” 

But what shall we do,” persisted Marje, anx- 
ious to act quickly and to the point. 

“ Let’s strike a compromise,” suggested Rex, by 
this time himself once more, since no one paid any 
attention to his wails. As may be supposed, the 
departing physician and the three servants gazed 
at the infant prodigy in wonderment. They did 
not know that Rex had a very vague idea of what 
was meant by striking a compromise; the phrase 
appealed to him only as a means of expressing ac- 
tion and relieving suspense. 

“ Rex’s suggestion is a good one,” championed 
Ned. From the mouths of babes cometh forth 
wisdom, when they’re not bawling or talking non- 
sense. Let’s all go back home. Why on earth 
should we be waiting here — taking possession of 
Mrs. Singleton’s house in her absence?” 


230 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

** To be sure,” assented Mrs. Fortune, rising. 
‘‘ The force of circumstances drew us here, and it 
couldn’t be helped. We’ll have Mrs. Brocker tele- 
phone us at once if anything new turns up at this 
end of the line. We’ll go home and wait for Carl.” 

Her suggestion seemed acceptable; so they all 
hurried out to her car, which was standing under 
one of the big trees. The chauffeur, patiently wait- 
ing, was smoking his corn-cob pipe to pass the time. 
Dr. Valentine was dismissed, after he had assisted 
Mrs. Fortune to her seat and promised for the sixth 
time to seek her apartment at a moment’s notice if 
his services should be required. Then they pro- 
ceeded homeward, their silence punctured only by 
Jack Gore’s obvious attempts to be amusing and 
Rex’s occasional reminders that it was the first night 
of his life he had been compelled to go without 
his supper. 

But what was their surprise and delight, when 
they reached their destination, to find Carl lolling 
on the couch, and Gath Singleton occupying the 
easiest chair ! Only one light was on ; it looked to 
the late invaders as though the room had been con- 
verted into a bachelor den, wherein prevailed the 
guiding principle of getting the most comfort from 
the least expenditure of energy. 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 231 

“ Carl Merrymaker! ’’ cried Ned sternly. 

Small wonder that Carl rose and looked shame- 
faced. But Ned’s premeditated discipline was lost 
when all of his brothers and sisters began flying 
at one another and engaging in unprecedented greet- 
ings, as if they had been re-united after a cruel 
cyclone, and none of them injured.: Indeed the 
strenuous hugs, and the kisses of a very smacking 
character, would have been very mortifying to Carl, 
in less strenuous circumstances; but at the time he 
did not care, even though Gath Singleton might 
choose to class him with the molly-coddles and senti- 
mentalists. 

‘‘We were afraid you were killed or injured — 
perhaps sun-struck,” stammered Marje, near weep- 
ing, inasmuch as the anxiety was over and her 
brother safe. 

“ I don’t know what you mean,” replied Carl 
with difficulty ; then he stared at his aunt, who had 
thrown herself on the chaise-longue and was vigor- 
ously fanning herself. “ We came an hour ago, 
and the janitor let us in. Nobody at home — and 
the house dark.” 

“ And he’s been worrying himself to death about 
it,” exposed Gath with a mocking laugh. “ He 
imagined all sorts of terrible things had happened 


232 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

to you. He’d have notified the police if I hadn’t 
held his coat-tail. What awful things visitors 
think about Chicago! It’s too absurd. Now Carl, 
don’t let on that you didn’t care — you know you 
did. I never in my life saw such a set of love-birds 
as you Merrymakers — and Mrs. Fortune, too. 
You make me feel lonesome. And you hang on to 
one another like prickly burrs.” 

“ Look here, Gath Singleton.” Mrs. Fortune sat 
up straight as she spoke, and her fears seemed to 
have vanished. “ I’m sure you are to blame for 
all we have suffered these past few hours. You’re 
one of the most entertaining boys I know, but you’re 
not always considerate. Now why did you tele- 
phone me from somewhere that Carl was under the 
weather and had to be put to bed? And then you 
rang off.” 

Gath laughed uneasily. Though he tried to jus- 
tify his conduct by imagining that he had told the 
truth, he clearly saw that his telephone message had 
conveyed a wrong impression — one that had turned 
out to be more or less serious. “ I didn’t suppose 
for one minute that you’d be alarmed,” he flound- 
ered. “ I telephoned from Father’s club. Carl and 
I spent part of the afternoon there. We took a 
plunge and went to sleep in the cooling-room; the 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 233 

attendants put us to bed, and we slept over-time. 
When I woke, Carl was still snoozing, and I didn’t 
want to disturb him. I telephoned Mrs. Fortune 
that we were suffering from the weather, but would 
be all right soon. I wouldn’t have said anything 
about the weather, but she kept insisting that some- 
thing was wrong. She was determined to come 
right down, no matter where we were. Never heard 
Mrs. Fortune carry on so — without any cause. 
I didn’t want our dinner party spoiled, so I just 
hung up the receiver. Then I was afraid she’d 
worry still more, so I called her up again. No an- 
swer. I suppose, by that time, she was out hunting 
for us.” 

“ Indeed I was,” admitted Mrs. Fortune with un- 
usual bitterness. I suppose by that time Rex and 
I were driving like mad to your house; I imagined, 
of course, you were over there. I couldn’t bear 
to think of Carl being put to bed in a hospital. I 
don’t see the point of your joke, Gath.” 

“ But you mustn’t blame Carl,” begged Gath, his 
dignity shaken by Mrs. Fortune’s reproof. He 
was asleep and didn’t know anything about our talk 
by telephone — or how uneasy you got, when there 
wasn’t any reason for it.” 

At any rate,” went on Mrs. Fortune unrelent- 


234 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ingly, “ you succeeded in frightening us almost to 
death. Ybu don’t need to laugh, Ned — now that 
it’s all over; for you took it as seriously as the 
rest of us did. And if it hadn’t been for Mr. Gore, 
Mrs. Brocker would have called up all your in- 
timate friends, Gath, and told them you were miss- 
ing — also notified the police.” 

“Great guns!” Gath wanted to be out in the 
open air where he could give vent to his wrath; he 
rose and got his hat. “ And I suppose my parents 
would have been back on the next express,” he 
snapped. “ I’m very sorry for all the trouble I 
caused, but when you cool off a little, Mrs. 
Fortune, you’ll see that you were as much to 
blame as I. Some people can't even take a joke 
by telephone. I think Fll go and call up Mrs. 
Brocker.” 

“ No — you’ll not do any more telephoning to- 
day,” spoke Mrs. Fortune with new authority. 
“ You’ll go right down to my car and hurry home 
as fast as you can. I had the chauffeur wait a 
while, in case of emergency. And you’ll please 
stay at home till Basil gets back from Peoria, or 
ni tell your mother all about you when she returns. 
I can’t invite you to stay for dinner; it’s too late 
now, and we’ll probably have nothing but bread and 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 235 

milk — and go to bed to restore our shattered 
nerves.” 

That’s all right, Mrs. Fortune,” returned Gath, 
stiffly polite; ‘‘ Mrs. Brocker will be so glad to get 
me back, she’ll get up a supper fit for a king. But 
please remember, I wasn’t entirely to blame about 
that telephone episode. You were so determined to 
make out that something terrible had happened to 
Carl, and I decided to let you have your own way 
for a while; but I was only joking. I’m sure I’ve 
been doing all I could to make Carl’s stay in Chicago 
pleasant — but it seems that I’ve failed.” 

“ I think Gath has made a satisfactory explana- 
tion, Aunt Esther,” intervened Ned, by this time 
satisfied that the truth was out. “ He said he tried 
to get you the second time by telephone, but by that 
time you were beginning the search party. Let’s 
forget all about it and be friends.” 

Mrs. Fortune, too, was inclined to let the mat- 
ter drop, though she was yet sorely perturbed and 
worn out by her recent excitement. She sat looking 
at Gath, as if she still thought he had been a very 
bad boy, notwithstanding that in spite of his faults 
he was rather agreeable. 

‘‘ Such a rumpus about nothing ! ” Carl, whose 
outraged feelings had been silently smoldering. 


2S6 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

could restrain himself no longer. He was standing, 
like one of the great orators of the Convention, and 
sweeping his audience with accusing gaze. ‘‘ It’s 
queer that a boy almost sixteen can’t stay out for 
dinner without his family getting hysterical about 
it. I’m old enough to know how to behave — and 
I don’t see why I have to be like a poodle led around 
by a string.” 

But Carl’s open rebellion met an absurd death in 
the gale of laughter it aroused. In truth, it was 
soon lost in another entirely different emotion when 
Gath said good-naturedly : ‘‘ Don’t you ’care, old 

man. A few years from now we’ll all look upon 
to-night as a great joke. I’m inclined to think 
you’re rather a lucky boy. I’d give all my collec- 
tions, postage-stamps and all, if I had so many 
brothers and sisters, and such a delightful aunt to 
worry about me. It’s just as you said to me at the 
club; there’s nothing like the home ties, though we 
imagine they chafe us a little; at times. I only have 
one brother, and he’s not especially interested in 
me. He wouldn’t care if I stayed away a week, so 
long as his best girl was in town.” 

But Gath made no move towards getting home 
till he had again explained that he was the cause 
of all the trouble, while Carl as stoutly maintained 


An Unexpected Family Reunion 237 

that he himself was entirely to blame; he had no 
business to nap in the day-time. Finally, Mrs. For- 
tune and all the others shook Gath’s hand and 
cordially invited him to visit them again next day. 
So the issue seemed to be closed, and Gath hurried 
away to Mrs. Brocker and another dinner. When 
he had gone, the little gathering gave vent to an ex- 
cess of merriment long held in abeyance; they had 
various methods of banishing the disagreeable inci- 
dent from their thoughts : Mrs. Fortune simply 
looked grateful, Ned smiled forgivingly, Marje 
laughed, Jean giggled, Rex whooped, and Jack Gore 
roared at the top of his voice till the usual serenity 
was restored. 

Then Mrs. Fortune made the last move in the 
little drama when she said: Ned, please call up 

Drexel 8261, and tell Dr. Valentine we shan’t need 
him — thank Heaven ! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


YE CASTLE OF TOPSY-TURVY 

Ned Merrymaker and Jack Gore were on a 
train that had left the North Station at 7.30. Both 
were enjoying one of those cooling breezes from 
the Lake — one of those sudden and refreshing 
changes of temperature that frequently relieves the 
mugginess of a Chicago summer, and causes her 
stay-at-homes to rejoice that they did not spend their 
money for a vacation in the country or some far- 
away resort. They had donned their best business 
suits and had made other attempts to appear as 
well-dressed as possible, considering that they had 
not brought their dress-clothes to Chicago, much as 
they needed them at the various receptions attending 
the Convention. 

“ I say, Ned,” Jack Gore was chattering, “ what 
kind of a show are we going to? You know I’m 
not very strong for church socials.” 

So much the worse for you,” replied Ned, still 
gazing out at the window at the suburbs flying past 
them with dizzying speed. Eve been brought up 
33a 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 239 

on church socials, and they haven’t done me any 
harm. And I think they do the kiddies a great deal 
of good; they take to them like bees lighting down 
on a clover-field. I haven’t any idea as to what 
kind of an evening we’re going to have ; I only know 
that we’re to get off at Andover, walk two blocks 
to the left, then two to the right, and stop at a big 
brick house owned by a lady named Fassett. And 
we have to pay ten cents to get in.” 

Jack Gore snickered as he jingled the small change 
in his pocket, in order to be sure that he had plenty 
of dimes along. Whatever Carl gets up is sure 
to be a treat,” he said with enthusiasm. ‘‘ He’s 
original and he has executive ability.” 

‘‘You tell him that, every time you see him — 
and I wish you wouldn’t,” protested Ned, though 
he gazed indulgently at his sandy friend with the 
mischievous eyes and tortoise-shell glasses. “ I 
don’t want Carl to get a swelled head.” 

“ Oh, he’s not one of that kind,” forcibly com- 
mented Jack. “He’s too modest, if anything; he 
never blows about himself, and he’s always thinking 
of others.” 

“ Between you and me,” said Ned thoughtfully, 
“ I’m sure Carl will make his mark in life. He’s 
very industrious; he doesn’t know how to get 


240 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

through a vacation 'without 'working, and he’s goin^ 
to be sure of his calling before he decides to follow 
it. I’m just as eager as you to find out how he’s 
planned this entertainment for the third ward of 
Aunt Esther’s church at Andover ; I assure you he’s 
had no help from me. I insisted that he work out 
his own projects, then let Marje add her advice. 
I thought Marje might be able to give him a 
woman’s point of view. Carl is inventive, Marje 
practical, and Jean has taste. The three of them 
always win out when they work together.” 

“ What a family — what a family ! ” exclaimed 
Jack with sincerity yet in amusement. “ They’re 
just average kids, but they pull together like mettle- 
some horses hitched to a tally-ho. I imagine they’ve 
had heaps of fun arbitrating and striking compro- 
mises over this affair.” 

'' I suppose so ; and I think it a good plan, though 
sometimes they take up a great deal of time at it,” 
laughed Ned. ‘‘ At any rate, we don’t have so many 
strikes and disturbances as some other families I 
know ; besides they learn to get one another’s point 
of view.” 

I don’t doubt it,” responded Jack meditatively. 

The wise counseling of a family interested in one 
another is a pledge of security. But don’t you 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 241 

think all this arbitrating and striking of compro- 
mises is apt to add to difficulties as you all grow 
older; for instance, when Marje gets old enough 
to have beaux? You’ll all die old bachelors and 
spinsters, I’m afraid.” 

“ Oh, we shan’t worry about Marje having beaux 
when she’s old enough. Bess has had a beau for 
more than a year, and it’s been decided by arbitra- 
tion that the lucky fellow is all right. I believe 
when Marje and Jean have beaux — but I hope that 
time is a long way off — they’ll have the judgment 
to select desirable ones, and the family will back 
them. You see, we care a great deal for one an- 
other’s happiness.” 

Jack Gore gazed indifferently at the neighboring 
commuters reading newspapers. It was evident 
that he respected the sturdy principles of the Merry- 
makers, yet he wondered how these would work out 
in years to come. For Jack had grown to think 
that most families, like his own, lay awake nights 
trying to think of ways to interfere with one an- 
other. 

But Ned did not wish to continue this conversa- 
tion concerning his own family, so he changed the 
subject. ‘‘ Gath Singleton and Carl and the girls 
have been working, on and off, for several days to 


242 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

make this church social a success,” he continued. 
‘‘ Aunt Esther told me Carl saw every man and boy 
in the third ward, and got them all interested; 
they’re going to shoulder the responsibilities and let 
the women have one evening for rest and recreation. 
At first, some of the men were very surly at Carl’s 
suggestions; but finely they grew interested, espe- 
cially after he had met the majority of them, one 
evening, at Mrs. Fasset’s. None of the ladies know 
what is 'going to happen, in spite of the fact that 
they’ve eavesdropped and tried bribes on their hus- 
bands and sons. I predict we’ll have some fun.” 

Jack Gore thought the whole mysterious proceed- 
ings a bit of comedy. Indeed they were both for- 
getful of the big Convention by the time the train 
stopped at Andover. On their way to the Fassett 
mansion they had to pass a block of neat, one-story 
shops. To their increasing amusement they found 
that each of the windows contained a flaming pla- 
card announcing “ Ye Castle of Topsy Turvy.” In 
smaller printing followed the explanation of how 
Mrs. Mary Fassett’s residence had been transformed 
into a rendezvous that would make the fairy tales of 
the new public library seem nothing else than a series 
of drab and stupid dreams. The public was cor- 
dially invited to explore this palace of wonders; and 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 243 

everybody >vas enjoined to bring along all the money 
he could borrow, inasmuch as the place was in pos- 
session of a Fierce Ogre ” who would demand 
heavy toll for every invasion of his privacy. 

It sounds pleasantly weird — doesn’t it?” re- 
marked Ned with a droll smile. I’m sure Marje 
had something to do with the wording of that pla- 
card; it sounds like her.” 

“ I wonder if Carl is the Ogre.” By that time 
Jack Gore was as curious as all Andover. 

I hope not. I think it would be in rather bad 
taste for him to choose such an exalted position in 
his own show. Yet I’d like to see what an ogre 
looks like.” 

At that juncture a boy handed each of them a 
leaflet with red head-lines and a further description 
of Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy. But before Jack 
could compliment Carl’s advertising ingenuity, a 
pretty young lady stepped up to them and asked 
where Mrs. Fassett lived. She was accompanied 
by a dozen other young people, all obviously eager 
for a good time. 

Ned repeated the directions his aunt had given 
him. 

I suppose you’ve both heard of Ye Castle of 
Topsy-Turvy,” said the young lady. 


244 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

‘‘ Yes, we’re just on our way there,” replied Ned, 
handing her the pamphlet he had been reading. ‘‘ I 
hope it will be a success.” 

‘ It’s bound to be,” said the young lady confi- 
dently. I’m positive the youngster at the head 
of it never does anything by halves. Our train 
was loaded down with people from several of the 
neighboring suburbs, so it’s possible that the adver- 
tising has been general. The young man responsi- 
ble for this entertainment called at my office, to ask 
my advice about it; I thought it very much out of 
the ordinary — very capital, indeed. I was so ex- 
cited over it, I gave the affair a small write-up in 
my column of the newspaper; so I imagine people 
will come from the city as well.” 

Then the young lady thanked Ned for telling her 
the directions necessary to follow in order to get 
to the Fassett home, and she and her gay compan- 
ions continued their journey. 

‘‘ Of all the slow dunces! ” exclaimed Jack Gore, 
his mouth ajar as he stared disapprovingly at Ned. 

The idea of your letting that pretty girl get away 
without telling her that you are Carl Merrymaker’s 
brother — ” 

“ I didn’t know she meant Carl,” burst forth Ned, 
equally disgruntled. “ I understand now ; he must 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 245 

have invited her to attend his show and bring a 
crowd. She’s that newspaper woman he spoke 
about, the other day.” 

‘‘Yes — it’s none other than Miss Ethel Cald- 
well,” returned Jack impressively. “ Haven’t you 
ever seen her daily column in some Chicago news- 
paper, and her picture at the top of it? You’re 
getting to be a machine, Ned; you can’t possibly 
forget that Convention. The first thing you know 
Carl will have you out-classed. Wasn’t he clever 
to ask Miss Caldwell’s cooperation ? ” 

“ I didn’t know he had so much nerve,” com- 
mented Ned, much taken aback; yet he managed to 
keep up with Jack Gore’s rapid strides. 

Soon they sighted the Fassett mansion; it was 
lighted from basement to cupola, and the blinds on 
the first and second floors were drawn. It surely 
was a castle of mystery, to be explored only by 
the expenditure of nickels and dimes. But their 
surprise increased when they found the lawn in 
front of the house, the piazza and its broad steps, 
congested with curious humanity. There were the 
old and the young, old gentlemen with canes and 
old ladies in their best bonnets, mothers with their 
broods and beaux with their best girls, school chil- 
dren and small toddlers that had to be led — all 


246 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

crowding towards the entrance of the building, 
whose portals were to open when the clock should 
strike eight. Furthermore, everybody seemed to be 
either highly expectant or downright eager. Small 
wonder that the two New York reporters laughed; 
for this unusual sight reminded them of the throng 
accumulating to pour into the Hippodrome. 

‘‘ Mrs. Fassett must be a good-natured soul,’’ re- 
marked Jack Gore. ** Think of a multitude of peo- 
ple tramping down your lawn and tracking up your 
carpets ! ” 

“ Carl says she’s a good fellow,” laughed Ned. 
“ She turned her house over to him, after locking 
up a few of her valuables. She even told him to 
drive tacks in the wall or perform any other mutila- 
tion that seemed necessary; she expects to have the 
house re-papered in the fall. I’m sure Mrs. Fas- 
sett will feel complimented to have her place turned 
into the sensation of the year — just for the good of 
the church. Good gracious, there’s Aunt Esther 
— scrambling with the rest ! ” 

Both reporters laughed at the sight of her. There 
she was, craning her neck to get a better view of 
the entrance; she looked youthful and pleasurably 
excited. Moreover, she was wearing a very becom- 
ing white dress, a dark -blue jacket, and a smart 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 247 

hat with blue ostrich tips ; her gold lorgnette was al- 
ready taking in the sights. She was talking to the 
plump lady with the pretty face and others of the 
committee, all of them airing fine summer wraps in- 
stead of the big aprons they usually wore at church 
socials. 

“ Aunt Esther always detests crowds,” chuckled 
Ned, laboriously making his way in her direction. 
“ I’m rather surprised that she came.” 

“ Oh, Ned, I’m so glad you got here early ! ” she 
cried when her nephew gently touched her arm. 
Both reporters agreed afterwards that they had 
never before seen such an animated look in her face. 

And here is Mr. Gore,” she bubbled. ‘‘ I’m so 
glad you didn’t have to work late.” 

Then followed introductions to the fat lady named 
Little, the thin lady named Sparks, mouse-like Mrs. 
Vane, and the others of the committee, most of them 
wearing low-necked gowns and their best jewels. 

“ I’ve got a clue to this affair,” the minister’s 
wife said to Ned. “ Surely the men of the third 
ward know how to keep a secret, though we women 
tried every way possible to find out about the mys- 
teries of this castle.” 

‘‘ I suppose they have the inside of the house 
turned wrong-side out,” surmised the fat lady named 


248 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Little; but she laughed as she spoke, as though 
walking on a ceiling would be a welcome diversion. 
“ But what clue did you get, Mrs. Vane? ” 

I didn’t hear anything,” admitted the pastor’s 
wife, but I caught my husband stealing.” 

The committee rent the air with laughter and mock 
cries of astonishment. 

‘ Yes,” went on Mrs. Vane; “ I saw him sneaking 
away from the parsonage, last night, with a jar 
of my best pickles under his arm. I followed 
him to this very house, and he went in the back 
way.” 

“ Then they must be going to give us a supper,” 
said the fat lady, apparently much delighted. 
“ Even if they have nothing but pickles, I think 
I’d like the change. A woman gets so tired of her 
own cooking — particularly so, when it’s hot.” 

“ Do you see that little old woman over there — 
the one closest to the door? ” whispered Mrs. Sparks 
to Ned. “’Her name is Mrs. Jones ; she’s the church 
mischief-maker. She’s done everything she could 
to spoil this party, even made a remonstrance to 
the town council. You know, our pastor is so 
desirous to have his church be one big family; but 
that woman hates anything that seems like socia- 
bility. She thinks church suppers are immoral, for 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 249 

the reason that people eat and talk too muoh. Her 
family life isn’t very pleasant — poor soul ! ” 

A woman with a cross face like that ought to 
be compelled to smile,” laughed Jack Gore. ‘‘ I 
should think her family life must be wretched, espe- 
cially if she’s the head of it.” 

Then Ned told Mrs. Sparks that he was a strong 
believer in the family, since all strong countries — 
such as England and France — built upon family 
life, seemed to stand the wear and tear of ages; 
while such ancient countries as Greece had left noth- 
ing but ideals for their successors to work out, 
simply because they had persisted in regarding the 
family as something incidental and subordinate. 
He grew so eloquent in the presence of this very 
attentive listener that he said the Kingdom of Christ 
would never come till the world should be one big 
family and everybody should have regard for his 
brother man. 

Ned’s remarks made such an impression upon 
the committee that they at once begged him to lec- 
ture at their sewing-circle next afternoon — an in- 
vitation Ned declined, possibly for the reason that 
Jack Gore was poking him in the ribs and thinking 
the little speech a great joke. 

“ It’s really amusing about Mrs. Jones,” con- 


250 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

tinned Mrs. Sparks, again directing attention to the 
little woman nearest the door. “ She’s been work- 
ing over-time to keep everybody from attending 
this affair.” 

Consequently, she’s the first on hand to try 
to get a peep,” laughed Jack Gore. ‘‘ It usually 
happens that way.” 

But did you ever see such a crowd ! ” interrupted 
Mrs. Little, beginning to be alarmed. ‘‘ I’m so 
afraid they’ll run out of provisions; or possibly the 
floor will give way and let everybody down in the 
basement — like that day Mrs. Barber gave a re- 
ception and invited the whole town, so she wouldn’t 
hurt anybody’s feelings.” 

I don’t believe I’ll go in just yet,” declared Mrs. 
Fortune, suddenly growing apprehensive. It’s 
bound to be a crush, for at least an hour or more. 
Poor Mrs. Fassett! Ned, bring Mr. Gore, and 
let’s spend the time over at the new public library; 
it’s worth seeing. We’ll join you later, ladies.” 

Consequently, it was almost nine o’clock before 
the two reporters, with Mrs. Fortune between them, 
returned to the Castle of Topsy Turvy. Even at 
that hour, the place was crowded; furthermore, 
everybody seemed to be unusually noisy — a cir- 
cumstance that no longer held any terror for Mrs. 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 251 

Fortune, after living a v^eek with the Merry- 
makers. 

The great door was opened by one of the church 
trustees. He wore a long black robe and a peaked 
hat of the same somber material; his spook-like 
appearance was relieved, however, by an artificial 
poinsettia sticking through a top button-hole. Soon 
the newcomers found themselves shaking hands 
with a long row of figures similarly clad; this line 
had been formed in such a way as to end at a small 
room close to the fire-place at the far end of the 
great hall. Here two young men in uniforms and 
bright-red caps checked the hats of the reporters 
and charged them a dime apiece — the same amount 
of money they had paid before being admitted to 
the castle. Another lad, also smartly garbed, then 
conducted them to the big drawing-room at the left 
of the hall. On their way, they observed that over 
the door of every room was a big white placard with 
printing in black letters. The placard over the 
door leading into the drawing-room blazoned the in- 
scription : “ Sousa’s Band.” 

“ The ten cents you paid for admission also en- 
titles you to as much of the music as you can stand,” 
said their young escort; so Ned and his two com- 
panions entered the apartment, which was filled with 


252 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

people sitting upon long rows of undertakers’ chairs 
— .that species of chair apt to collapse and send some 
fat man sprawling when he grows too much ab- 
sorbed in a lap supper. 

“ We’ve had our money’s worth thus far,” 
laughed Mrs. Fortune as they sought seats in the 
back row. “ That line of men we went through 
are trustees and dignitaries in the church ; but most 
of them seldom attend services except on Easter 
Sunday. Carl surely did a great work in getting 
them interested.” 

Then they observed that they were facing the 
closed folding-doors of Mrs. Fassett’s music-room, 
and that these doors were almost entirely covered 
with a poster announcing the list of musical num- 
bers to be presented by Sousa and his distinguished 
band. One of the ushers shouted that they would 
proceed at once to render the sixth performance of 
the evening. The folding-doors creaked back, and 
a splendid imitation of John Philip Sousa stepped 
forth; he began to bow and make quick little ges- 
tures with his baton. This important personage 
wore a sleek wig and a well-clipped beard ; his bosom 
glittered with tin badges. Before he could com- 
mand attention, however, everybody seemed to know 
that he was none other than Harry Tripp, the wag 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 253 

of the village. As for the band, it was equally 
unique in appearance, comprised as it was of a dozen 
men and boys in blue denim over-alls, big straw 
hats, and red handkerchiefs tied round their necks. 
Truly, every man and boy in the third ward pro- 
fessing his ignorance of music had been forced to 
join this grotesque organization equipped with 
drums and cymbals, cornets and trombones, dish- 
pans and potato-mashers, jew’s-harps and celluloid 
combs covered with tissue-paper. How the audi- 
ence shrieked when Tannhauser’s “ Awakening ” 
burst forth in a medley of discords! Indeed, it 
took three ushers to prevent a panic as everybody 
made for the exit. But Carl’s idea had worked out 
well; for the ice was broken, and the audience in 
a mood to give Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy a more 
thorough inspection. 

‘‘ Aunt Esther, doesn’t your head ache ? ” inquired 
Ned anxiously as they returned to the hall. “ I 
fear that terrible band has undermined your ner- 
vous system.” 

“ I feel unusually well,” assured his aunt with 
a merry laugh. It’s the most satisfactory musicale 
I ever attended. I had such a good excuse for 
leaving before it had finished. I hope Carl’s en- 
tertainment will keep up with this initial perform- 


254 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

ance. We needed a good shaking- up — and with 
the right kind of people.” 

The placard over the door of the large front 
room across the hall heralded the most famous 
tennis-court in the world; a shouting agent an- 
nounced that the admission was ten cents. On this 
occasion, Mrs. Fortune purchased the tickets. Then 
followed another prolonged laugh; for at the toy 
tennis-court in the midst of the big dining-table a 
spirited game was being conducted by four well- 
known church members. As was stridently an- 
nounced by the boy in charge of this department, 
none of these notable pillars of the congregation 
had ever raised a racquet ” till that blessed min- 
ute. So it was not surprising that people kept pour- 
ing in to view this comical contest till it was neces- 
sary to lock the door. 

On side tables placed in the corners of the apart- 
ment, others were playing ping-pong and making 
almost as much uproar as those engaging in tennis 
at the dining-table. But before Mrs. Fortune and 
the boys could get out of this lively chain of courts, 
they were besieged by several lads in tennis suits 
selling toy racquets at ten cents apiece, to be taken 
home as souvenirs. Jack Gore finally succeeded in 
paying this additional expense, 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 255 

“ We must go upstairs now,” said Mrs. Fortune 
when they were back in the long hall. “ It looks to 
me as if they will have no trouble in raising the two 
hundred dollars. My, what a lark ! ” 

Then they were joined by the fat woman named 
Little, who claimed that she had been so greedy in 
her enjoyment as to spend all her money and borrow 
more from the thin woman named Sparks. She, 
also, was ready to invade the witching apartments 
on the second floor. “ I haven’t laughed so much 
since I joined this church,” she insisted. But 
where is our pastor. Dr. Vane? Do you suppose 
he doesn’t approve of this frolic, and possibly 
stayed at home ? ” 

Not after stealing his wife’s pickles,” joked 
Ned as they progressed to the foot of the stairway 
where stood Gaston and Alphonse, or some equally 
queer characters, whose likenesses one sees in the 
colored supplements of our Sunday papers. Gaston 
was shouting through a megaphone the list of won- 
ders to be seen in the various rooms upstairs. 

Walk up, ladies and gentlemen,” he yelled, and 
see the greatest aggregation of curios the world has 
ever known ! Hello there, Mrs. Fortune — and you 
New York scribblers! Out with your pocket- 
books ! ” 


256 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Then they beheld Gath Singleton under his rather 
heavy disguise; he was holding out a tray already 
heaped with small change as he stood on the lowest 
step. Joking back at him they ascended the stair- 
way till they came to the landing, where two equally 
queer-looking characters — possibly Mutt and Jeff 
— barred their progress by stretching out a wire. 

Do we have to pay again? ” asked plump Mrs. 
Little. We just paid ten cents apiece at the bot- 
tom of the stairs.’^ 

You’ll have to pass the landing one at a time,’* 
ordered Mutt. 

Then the wire was lowered; Mrs. Little stepped 
over it and attempted to turn the landing, only to 
scream when an enormous mirror, extending from 
the floor almost to the ceiling, was shifted in such 
a way as to reflect her image — only, in this in- 
stance, she looked many times as fat as she actually 
was, as well as ludicrously short. 

That’s one of those terrible mirrors one sees 
in amusement places along the beach,” laughed Mrs. 
Fortune, shrinking back. Poor Mrs. Little f 
Why didn’t they turn the mirror in such a way as 
to make her look thin? ” 

But Mrs. Little had her laugh, too, when spare 
Mrs. Fortune was compelled to face the magic mir- 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy ^57 

ror and find herself resembling a darning-needle. 
Then the two ladies laughed still harder when Ned 
confronted the glass and found himself looking at 
a very odd creature with a long body and tiny legs, 
crooked from the knees down ; and all shouted glee- 
fully when Jack Gore’s image suddenly took on the 
form of a being such as is never seen in all the 
ranks of humanity; it seemed to be a puzzle made 
up of crooks and angles, the face long and narrow, 
the fat legs badly bowed. 

“Those naughty boys!” chided Mrs*. Fortune, 
turning merry eyes upon Mutt and Jeff. “ What 
fun they are having, turning good-looking people 
into freaks ! ” 

But by that time they were at the head of the stairs 
in another great hall, which appeared to be the 
setting of a peaceful dream when compared with 
the confusion that reigned in the music-room and 
the tennis-court. Its walls were covered with old 
photographs on mats of red, blue, or yellow; and 
at its far end were many antiques collected from 
all the rare old houses in Andover. Moreover, the 
hall was lighted by an immense acetylene lamp some- 
body had borrowed from a restaurant. At least 
a hundred sight-seers were staring at the photo- 
graphs and scribbling on pieces of card-board to 


258 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

which were attached miniature pencils. All were 
having an absorbing time trying to guess the names 
of the prominent citizens represented by these old 
portraits of the long ago, and each hoped to win 
one of the three prizes that had been generously 
offered by a local stationer, who was also a church 
member living in the third ward. 

Ned and his companions were again amused when 
the great Professor Lallipaloosa ” turned out to 
be Carl, disguised as a very old and learned man 
with a silvery wig and flowing whiskers. There 
he was, in full charge of the Gallery. His own 
family were unable to recognize him till they heard 
his voice. 

“ Professor, your Castle is a success,'’ greeted 
Ned as he shook hands with the venerable and dis- 
tinguished gentleman. I must admit that Pm 
rather proud of you, though it’s evident that you’ve 
shocked Sister Jones and possibly one or two other 
church members.” 

“ It’s what they needed,” said Carl with spirit. 
“ Besides, I’m not running the Castle — simply this 
Gallery. Don’t you think it rather pretty and in- 
teresting? I’m not worrying about the people no- 
body on earth can please. Already one of the 
women of the second ward — I think it must have 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 259 

been Mrs. Jones — has complained about the mirror 
on the landing. She was terribly frightened when 
she saw herself. And she was wicked enough to say 
that we must have borrowed it fr6m a saloon. But 
we didn’t.” 

“ I dare say she was badly shocked at her re- 
flections,” dryly remarked Jack Gore. Possibly 
they all flattered her too much.” 

But I want to show you this gallery,” went on 
Carl. The Fassett girls, Marje, Jean, Gath, and I, 
went all over Andover to collect the photographs, 
the framed pictures, and the antiques. There is the 
picture of the first brick house built in Andover — 
and the old school-house that was burned down 
forty years ago, and the likeness of Andover’s first 
citizen. Over on the east wall is a fine collection of 
pictures; they are photographs of at least twenty- 
five pairs of twins born in this place. And all 
around the frieze are photographs of the belles of 
Andover — from 1848 to the present time. It’s a 
fine study. On the antique table at the end of the 
hall is a splendid assortment of daguerreot3q)es. 
There is no limit to what we might have done with 
this art and curio collection if we’d had more time.” 

You’ve done two weeks’ work in a few days,” 
said Ned approvingly. You must have had very 


260 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

capable help. It’s all very beautiful, as well as 
social and historical in its nature. It’s great fun 
to watch the older citizens trying to guess the names 
of the people represented by those old photographs.” 

''Oh, Ned — you’re here!” cried Jean, suddenly 
springing from somewhere, to the delight of both 
Ned and their aunt. " Oh, you must all come in 
and see the funny side-show! Marje and I spend 
most of our time in there. You’ll laugh yourselves 
to pieces.” 

Forthwith, she pulled Ned away from Carl and 
into a room* leading directly from the hall of photo- 
graphs. The placard over the door announced 
" Professor Spug and his Greatest Aggregation of 
Fluman Curiosities.” Inside was the Professor, 
flashily attired, especially when it came to the mat- 
ter of jewelry. In a loud voice he was introducing 
his weird collection of freaks. There was the most 
beautiful woman the world had ever known since 
the days of Cleopatra — in reality, a high school 
boy, his face a mass of freckles and rouge, cork- 
screw curls dangling over his scraggy shoulders, his 
green gown ablaze with cheap and startling gems. 
Then came the " Wild Man of Pomerania ” tied to 
the leg of a bed with a long black-silk thread ; the 
" Long-lost Charley Ross now a man fat and 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 261 

white-haired; the Bearded Lady ” and the “ Giant- 
ess/' both well-known citizens in ludicrous attire; 
and ‘ Little Tom Thumb,” a tiny boy sitting on a 
sewing-table and selling his own photographs. In- 
deed, neither Aunt Esther nor Ned wondered that 
the girls had spent most of the evening at the side- 
show; for Spug’s introductory speeches were ex- 
ceedingly witty, and the antics of his freaks suffi- 
ciently comical to make the grouchiest person in 
the world burst into laughter. 

Another room that interested them was the 
‘‘ Bridle Chamber ” ; it, also, contributed the ele- 
ment of surprise, though it was nothing else than 
Mrs. Fassett’s guest chamber — a model of cleanli- 
ness and comfort, with a horse-bridle swung over 
the back of a chair. 

“ You see,” explained Marje. “We didn’t know 
what to do with this room, though Carl and I talked 
it over for an hour. It looked so pretty, we didn’t 
have the heart to change it. So we left it just as 
it was, and Nell Fassett got a bridle from the ga- 
rage — one that hasn’t been used since horses went 
out of date.’’ 

But by that time Jean was tugging at Ned, to 
lead him to the “ Conservatory,” which was still 
another surprise for people who liked that sort of 


262 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

thing. This room was dark except for a tiny candle 
lighting a small plant perched on a three-legged stool 
in the middle of the room. Closer scrutiny revealed 
the fact that the bloom so daintily displayed to the 
public was a blue rose from some cast-off hat, which 
Aunt Esther remembered as belonging to one of 
the Fassett girls. Consequently she laughed again, 
though Jack Gore stood unmoved, which proved to 
all that while some people prefer one kind of hu- 
mor, others just as intelligent clamor for something 
entirely different. They all agreed, nevertheless, 
that Carl and his assistants had succeeded in getting 
much variety out of their arrangement of the Castle, 
and that they undoubtedly had pleased everybody, 
barring such malcontents as Mrs. Jones, the little 
old lady who thought sociability immoral. 

“Poor Mrs. Fassett!’^ Aunt Esther persisted in 
lamenting. “ It will take her servants a week to 
get this place presentable again.’’ 

“ She said we could do as we pleased,” put in 
Carl, who had joined them once more. “ And her 
servants won’t have to do a thing; the men of the 
ward have hired several people to clean out the 
place to-morrow. Now get your pocket-books 
ready again; you must go into the room across the 
hall. We call it ‘ The Andover Fishing-Pond.’ ” 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 263 

Much commotion prevailed in this darkened room 
controlled by several young fishermen in straw hats 
and slouch garments. Some of them were showing 
the visitors how to fish with small poles, to which 
bent pins at the end of long strings were attached; 
others were concealed behind the sheet stretched 
across one corner of the apartment. Soon Mrs. 
Fortune and the two newspaper correspondents were 
casting their lines and waiting patiently to see what 
they should fish from that white muslin pond. 

Don’t expect much, Auntie,” advised Marje. 
‘‘ You might fish up something terrible. The boys 
have rummaged every garret in Andover, to get 
articles for the fish-pond, and the supply is nearly 
exhausted. This attraction went amazingly well.” 

Mrs. Fortune suddenly pulled out her line, to find 
dangling on the hook an empty can that formerly 
had contained talcum powder; at the same moment 
Jack Gore dragged forth a sample bottle of sooth- 
ing-sirup, while Ned landed a scarlet hair-bow badly 
soiled. Evidently the waggish lad at the bottom 
of the pond was running out of supplies, or else he 
was an adept in making the anglers feel ridiculous. 

But the pond was soon forsaken by Mrs. Fortune 
and her party, for so many other places of interest 
kept clamoring for their small change. Indeed, 


264 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

none of the amusements could be visited free of 
charge except the “ Conservatory,” the “ Bridle 
Chamber,” and the Art Gallery.” 

“ We don’t care how much it costs — just so we 
see everything,” that lady kept saying as she spent 
her money, notwithstanding that Jack ^nd Ned were 
trying to do more than their share. “ I feel as 
lively as Jean, though I must confess that the Sousa 
band gave me a dreadful shock.” 

“ We’re going up to the cupola now,” announced 
Carl, leading the procession. “ I can get away 
from my post long enough to take the trip with 
you.” 

Their journey up the spiral staircase was fraught 
with mysterious curiosity. When Carl reached the 
top, he glanced through the open door into the 
cupola . with its eight narrow windows, then mo- 
tioned for the others to follow him. The place was 
dark save for two candles sputtering in skull candle- 
sticks. A bear-skin rug almost entirely covered the 
floor; sofa pillows and grass mats were strewn 
everywhere. Sitting by a small table was the Ogre 
of Topsy-Turvy; his sole occupation for the eve- 
ning was to tell people’s fortunes. He had long 
white hair and a beard equally as long and dis- 
heveled. Surely the picture was grimly fascinating 



• SITTING BY A SMALL TABLE WAS THE OGRE OF 

TOPSY-TURVY ” 




Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 265 

— worth the exertion undergone in climbing the 
long stairs. 

“ Good evening, Ogre,” said Carl, with ob- 
sequious politeness meant to spell fear. “ Will you 
be so kind as to tell our fortunes? ” 

The Ogre grunted and held out a flat object that 
resembled the top of a skull, though it turned out 
to be the lid of a collar-box. Put in your dimes, 
please,” he said in sepulchral tones that caused Rex 
to tremble and cling more closely to Ned. 

Approach, Sister,” resumed the Ogre when he 
had collected his fees; he lifted up a wand much 
like a bamboo cane in appearance. ‘‘ Your name is 
Fortune. You are rightly named; for you will re- 
main fortunate so long as the Merrymakers make 
merry. Yes, Pm sure your future will be brighter 
than your past, if you continue to make it so. You 
shall be blessing and blest wherever you go.” 

Mrs. Fortune was much pleased with the many 
complimentary remarks the Ogre continued to 
make; indeed, she rather reluctantly gave up her 
place to Ned. 

‘‘ And you, Brother,” went on the Ogre, turning 
to Ned, “ are a very excellent young man in many 
respects. Your toil shall be rewarded and great 
happiness shall come to you. There is only one 


266 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

line in your palm of a questionable character; it 
marks a very serious defect. Shall I tell you what 
it is? ’’ 

Ned hesitated ; in truth, he trembled. But he did 
not have time to reply before Carl interrupted : 
'' Yes, tell it. Ogre. We all belong to the same 
family, and we all have a right to know what it is.” 

Shall I tell? ” asked the Ogre, peering at Ned 
through the oblong peep-holes in his mask. 

“ Yes,” replied Ned faintly. 

“ It is this,” cried the Ogre fiercely — ‘‘ you break 
into people’s houses ! ” 

What! ” Ned was evidently vexed at such fa- 
miliarity. 

“ It’s true — true as preaching. Once you broke 
into a house and committed a crime.” 

Prove it,” dared Marje. 

“ You stole into the apartment of a lady on Grand 
Boulevard, and smothered a steak with onions I ” 

‘‘ Oh, Dr. Vane, is it you! ” exclaimed Mrs. For- 
tune. “ What a terrible Ogre you are ! ” 

But it was not till the Ogre had told the remaining 
fortunes — none of them so alarming as Ned’s — 
that he replied to Aunt Esther: “Yes, I’m the 
Ogre.” At the same time he pulled off his mask, 
thus displaying his clipped beard, red even in the 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 267 

dull light afforded by the two candles. I simply 
must have a breath of air,” he apologized. “ But 
please don’t tell anybody who the fearful Ogre is 
— just yet. A few of my parishioners might think 
Fd better be employed in getting up my Sunday 
sermon than in playing the Ogre at Carl Merry- 
maker’s show. Yet it’s been great fun. Fve told 
them all about their weaknesses; Fve said a great 
many things I never dared tell them from the pul- 
pit.” 

“ We’ll not tell,” promised Mrs. Fortune. But 
before she could say more, other investigators en- 
tered the cupola, and the pastor was forced to ad- 
just his disfiguring mask once more. 

Then Carl led the others down the two flights 
of stairs to the main hall where unusual festivity 
reigned. Sousa’s Band in single file was making a 
parade through the building; following them were 
the freaks from Professor Spug’s side-show, the 
bearded woman gamboling along at the rear. 

In the “ Banquet Hall ” back of the tennis court 
they found greater repose and comfort. Aunt 
Esther exclaimed rapturously at the sight of pink- 
shaded candles and a forest of scattered oleander 
trees covered with artificial flowers of the same 
color. Chairs and settees were placed under the 


268 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

blooming boughs; a dozen middle-aged men in 
white coats and wearing pink boutonnieres were 
serving the guests with large dinner-plates contain- 
ing a collation that consisted of ham sandwiches, 
salad, thin slices of buttered bread, and plenty of 
jelly. Each banqueter was also given two peanuts 
and a solitary pickle purloined from his wife by 
Dr. Vane. Added to this repast was a cup of steam- 
ing coffee. Indeed the accommodations rendered by 
the middle-aged men of the church were worth a 
quarter — according to Jack Gore’s enthusiastic as- 
sertions — and that young gentleman was accorded 
the courtesy of paying the bill for his entire party. 

Supper finished, they found there was still another 
attraction to investigate. This could be seen 
through the round hole in the door leading from 
the dining-room into the kitchen; but it could not 
be viewed except by the payment of another nickel 
and waiting in line until one’s turn was announced 
by the “ Custodian of the Peep-hole.” 

When Mrs. Fortune gazed into the culinary 
realms, she began to laugh so violently Ned feared 
for her nerves and headaches. For the dish- 
washers and scullery employees in this kitchen 
known as the “ Caboose ” turned out to be the older 
men of the church, most of them in big gingham 


Ye Castle of Topsy-Turvy 260 

aprons; they were hard at work, under the super- 
vision of a bank president whose duty it was to 
settle all disputes and keep the sinks clean. 

“ Fm inclined to think the caboose was the best 
part of the entertainment,” Mrs. Fortune remarked 
when they had returned to the main hall, and the 
boys were waiting for their hats. How de- 
lighted some of those visiting ladies must be to see 
their men working in the kitchen ! ” 

But at that moment the Wild Man of Pomerania, 
who had been turned loose on the public after the 
parade was at an end, made a dash at Carl and 
cried out enthusiastically : “ Did you hear the 

news, old top ? They say we’ve cleared five hundred 
dollars, and the money isn’t all counted yet.” 

“ Too bad we didn’t charge more admission,” 
replied Carl; nevertheless, he was even more elated 
than the Wild Man of Pomerania. 

It looks as if the parsonage will have three 
rooms to the addition instead of two,” exulted 
Marje. ” I’m so happy, I could take that big mega- 
phone away from Gath Singleton and roar through 
it, just like the big lake during a storm. It’s been 
worth all our trouble.” 

But^ as always happens when a band of conscien- 
tious people work together for the good of some 


270 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

cause, there was at least one person present to sow 
seeds of discord. This thorn in the flesh was Mrs. 
Jones, who had disapproved of the entertainment, 
yet had been the first on hand to see with her own 
eyes all the immorality that might ensue. She met 
Carl at the foot of the stairs and caught him by the 
lapel of his coat. Young man,” she rebuked, ‘‘ I 
doubt if your circus was exactly proper. If it had 
been, Tm sure our dear pastor would have been 
present to help it along. I shall call on him to- 
morrow and see what he has to say about it.” 

“ It’s possible that your pastor might object to 
the fortune-telling in the cupola,” snickered Jack 
Gore. 

‘‘ No doubt of it,” returned Mrs. Jones, taking 
him seriously. The idea of telling fortunes in a 
dark cupola — or anywhere else, for that matter ! 
And such a fortune teller as that man was! If I 
could find out his name, I’d give him a piece of my 
mind. He had the impudence to tell me that I’d 
be better off if I’d stop looking for the motes and 
beams in other people’s eyes, and take better care 
of my own eyes. Did you ever hear anything so 
personal I ” 


CHAPTER IX 


marje’s caller 

Oh, Miss Merrymaker, Fm glad to find 

you at home ! ” Miss Cora Parker, the maid of a 
hundred occupations, who had thought so little of 
Mrs. Fortune’s summer furs and other valuables 
as to dump them into a writing-desk, was at the 
door; she was smiling and holding out a cotton- 
gloved hand. Marje observed that she wore a de- 
cent black dress and a smart hat of her own mak- 
ing; also that the visitor was much rouged and per- 
fumed, and that she was balancing herself on heels 
of unusual height. 

“ Come right in,” was Marje’s cordial greeting as 
she shook the extended hand with unusual zest. 

I’m glad you telephoned me early; otherwise I 
might have missed you. My aunt and the boys 
are still investigating Chicago, and my sister and I 
are keeping house. We’re all going out to-night 
to a lovely garden where they are to have an op- 
eratic performance.” 

“Is it a beer garden?” inquired the visitor, not 
271 


272 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

from curiosity but simply to make conversation. 

‘‘ No, I think not,” replied Marje, not in the 
least offended. I think it’s the place where Dam- 
rosch’s Orchestra plays; I don’t believe Ned would 
take us girls to a beer garden.” 

I s’pose Ned is your brother,” said Miss Parker, 
her natural brusqueness returning. I don’t know 
anything about brothers. Sometimes I wish I had 
one or two — if they was any good. They could 
help me make a livin’. Yes, Ma’s rheumatiz is 
better ; but sometimes she hollers with pain — she 
can’t help it.” 

By this time they had entered the drawing-room. 
Jean, who like her sister was dressed in a frock that 
seemed cool and highly appropriate, laid down her 
book and received the introduction Marje thought 
necessary. Though Jean was reasonably well-be- 
haved, she could not keep from staring at Miss 
Parker ; for the newcomer’s strident voice, her 
pegging slippers and over-scented perfumery, her 
rouge and artificial roses, seemed to war against 
all her senses. 

“What a cute kid!” cried Miss Parker, just as 
though Jean were Rex instead of a girl ten years 
old. Yet Jean smiled and took a chair facing Miss 
Parker, so she could look her over with the least 


273 


Marje's Caller 

possible exertion. Even from that rather startling 
caller she might be able to learn something valuable ; 
at least, she was bound to be amused. 

‘‘ She’s lots prettier than you,” continued Miss 
Parker, looking from Jean to Marje, in such a way 
as to embarrass both sisters. Jean ached to say 
that she did not think it much of a compliment to 
be recommended for her good looks, since beauty 
was apt to grow insipid unless there were several 
good traits to back it up. 

‘‘ I’m glad you think so,” said Marje appre- 
ciatively. 

“Bess says — she’s my sister — ” began Jean, 
“ that beauty is only skin deep — ” 

“ She must be a queer one,” rather scornfully 
interrupted Miss Parker, still gazing at Jean with 
mouth slightly ajar. 

Again the sisters exchanged apprehensive glances. 
Evidently this strange-spoken visitor had developed 
some ideas of her own — ideas rather squalid and 
not exactly logical. Be that as it may, Marje saw 
something in that honest but warped character 
worthy of consideration. So she laughed good- 
naturedly, and Jean followed her example, while 
Miss Parker’s unaccustomed eyes traversed the bric- 
a-brac on Aunt Esther’s mantel. 


274 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ Sister Bess has acted as our mother for several 
years/’ explained Marje. You see, our parents 
are both dead. Bess is a remarkable girl; but she 
doesn’t like us to say it before strangers. She 
thinks some people make it ridiculous — always 
talking about their families ; she thinks parents 
make a great mistake in thinking their children are 
better than other people’s — ” 

“ I should say so,” agreed Cora Parker with such 
astuteness Marje lost her sentence. And I don’t 
S’pose your sister Bess is any better than anybody 
else’s sister; you just think so. A girl with lots 
of money ought to be remarkable — and they ought 
to be sweet all the time. It’s no wonder some of 
’em are so s\^eet, it makes a person thirsty for 
pickle-brine.” 

“ But Bess isn’t rich,” Jean thought it wise to 
explain. 

“ I’m not ’specially interested in your sis- 
ter Bess,” testily informed Miss Parker. “ Pm 
more interested now in this sister you call 
Mag.” 

Marje,” corrected both girls. 

‘‘ Yes, Marje,” said Cora more politely. ‘‘ I 
come right up here to thank her for what she’s done 
for me — ” 


Marje's Caller 275 

Please don’t,” protested Marje, notwithstand- 
ing that she was much pleased. 

I didn’t say all I wanted to, by ’phone, Miss 
Marje — so I’m goin’ to say it now,” persisted the 
caller. “ You certainly done a great thing for me 
— and I’m goin’ to prove that there is at least one 
animal in this world that can show gratitude — 
and that’s me. No more workin’ by the day for 
me.” 

“ What does she mean? ” Jean gazed forcefully 
at her sister. 

I didn’t tell Jean about it,” said Marje, some- 
what confused. ‘‘ My brother Carl and I thought 
we'd keep it a secret till everything was settled — 
though we told Aunt Esther, so she could help. 
Don’t be hurt, Jean; I intended to tell you this 
evening.” 

“Miss Marje surely done a handsome thing for 
me,” reiterated Cora to Jean, her dark eyes shining 
their approbation. “ It’s just like her and her 
brother to keep it to ’emselves. Never saw such 
modest folks. I was makin’ leaves and stringin’ 
berries at one of the big stores for Mr. Smith at 
a dollar and a half a day; and glad I was to get 
such a respectable job and the money. I knew 
they’d let me go as soon as the job was done, and 


276 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

I’d have to work by the day again till I got some- 
thin’ I liked; yet I worked just as hard and patient 
as if I’d been hired forever and ever. One day 
Smith — he’s the man that hired me — called me to 
one side atnd asked me if I’d like to learn the milli- 
nery business. I told him I’d love it like a mother. 
Then he gave me the address of the lady that owns 
the swell French shop, over in the Boulevard dee- 
strict. I went over when my day’s work was done, 
and stood outside lookin’ in the windahs. It was 
such a classy place, I was afraid to step a foot in- 
side. Never saw such bows and feathers and 
flowers and flub-dubs in my life! The head lady 
— all dressed up like a May-pole — sent me into a 
little back room, and pretty soon the lady boss come 
in. She was stuck-up at first ; but she thawed con- 
siderable when she found out who I was. Said she 
would put me in the work-room where they make 
hat foundations. She said I’d have to learn how 
to cover wire frames. That’s just what I wanted 
to do. Why, when I see some of them fashionable 
dames on Michigan Boulevard, I just want to grab 
’em and shape over their hats for ’em ! They wear 
anything that happens to be the style, whether it’s 
becomin’ or not. That’s why so many tall women 
wear flat hats; besides, they think it cuts off their 


277 


Marje^s Caller 

height and makes ’em look shorter. And lots of fat 
women bunch ’emselves up under butter-bowls 
turned upside-down, with plumes stragglin’ down 
their backs — ” 

“ Oh, Miss Parker, you’re so funny ! ” fairly 
shrieked Jean, amused not only at the caller’s method 
of expression but her firm sincerity. 

“ Now when I work into the king row. I’ll tell 
them fashionable dames the truth,” proceeded Cora, 
unmindful of Jean’s interruption. “ I think it’s a 
crime to take their money, and send ’em out lookin’ 
like cartoons.” 

“ I think you’ll find it best to give them just what 
they want,” suggested Marje, who had learned that 
very important point from a milliner in her home 
town. “ You know, if you told most women they 
look terrible in the hats they like, they’d be furious. 
Of course, you can give them good advice; but you 
mustn’t expect them to take it.” 

Marje felt that she was in a trying position for 
a girl of fourteen already burdened with the re- 
sponsibilities attached to making herself a model 
little mother to a lively family of children away 
visiting. And now, added to these duties, was the 
starting of that strange and incomprehensible girl, 
Cora Parker — at least twenty years old. Thor- 


278 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

oughly imbued with the spirit of her project, how- 
ever, Marje kept on planning some method of in- 
fluencing her protegee -* some way that would not 
make her (Marje) appear preachy or priggish. 

But before she could speak again, Cora continued 
vibrantly : ‘‘ Smith didn’t have much to do about 

it; he just gave me a reference. The one that 
really opened the way was Mrs. Fortune; she buys 
all her hats at that French shop. She spoke a 
word for me; but she wouldn’t have done it if it 
hadn’t been for Miss Marje. When I get through 
with them Christmas fixin’s. I’m to go over to that 
big millinery shop and learn the whole business, 
from the ground up. Not much of a salary to 
start with ; but I’ve lived on less.” 

‘‘ I’m so glad,” gushed Jean, her animated face 
establishing her sincerity. “ It was nice of Marje 
and Carl to take such interest in you — and Aunt 
Esther, too. But I wish I might have had a hand in 
it.” 

You see how it was, Jean,” Marje again 
apologized : ‘‘ Carl and I felt that we were the only 

ones responsible. We — we owed it to Miss 
Parker — and we couldn’t take anybody else in. 
Of course, we told Aunt Esther about it, so she 
could lend a hand — and she did.” 


279 


Marje^s Caller 

But before Jean could assure her sister that she 
was not in the least offended at not having been 
one of the good angels to make it such smooth 
sailing for Miss Parker, their grateful visitor 
burst forth with great jubilation : “ I’ll get to 

the top, I tell you! Some day I’ll be wearin’ 
di.’monds.” 

Marje was alarmed. Young as she was, she won- 
dered if Cora’s bringing-up had been so faulty as to 
preclude her from meeting success with the modesty 
that makes it permanent. “If I were you, Miss 
Parker, I don’t believe I’d bank too much on the 
distant future,” she offered, with that kind sincerity 
that harbors no offense. “ Just live every day as 
it comes — and keep your aim high. You’ll have 
a great deal to learn. For one thing, you’ll have to 
dress just as plainly as possible — and you’ll have to 
practice a little on your English — ” 

“ What’s the matter with my English? ” snapped 
Cora, so sharply that Marje caught her breath. 
“ I never had no trouble makin’ folks understand 
me.” 

“ You’ll have to get a language book and study 
up,” ventured Marje. “ You’ll have to learn how 
to use your pronouns; and you must listen to re- 
fined people when they talk — that is, if you expect 


280 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

to make an impression on ladies and sell hats to 
them.” 

“ I’m sure I talk as good as some of them society 
girls I see on the street,” flared Cora. Evidently 
she had the sensitiveness that protects the artistic 
temperament from too rough handling. 

“ I don’t doubt it,” was Marje’s guarded response. 
“ But it takes a long time for anybody to learn to 
speak English as the best Americans do. Jean and 
I have been trying all our lives to learn how to 
talk.” 

“ Just give me time, and I’ll talk as stylish as 
anybody,” said Cora with staggering assurance. 
“ I’d have done it long ago if I hadn’t been afraid 
the girls I work with would guy me; they’d have 
roasted me to death.” 

Marje’s honest heart sank, but she replied pa- 
tiently: “ You must be natural in your talk — not 
too stylish; you must never strain your English, 
or — or put on airs. Everybody would laugh at 
you. And you must use your verbs and pronouns 
correctly — ” 

“ I wouldn’t reco’nize one of ’em if I caught it 
tryin’ to break in the house,” confessed Miss Parker 
with comical glibness. 

Then Marje took from the table a small red book 


281 


Marje's Caller 

and handed it to her charge. “ That’s the little 
volume I study whenever I have the spare time,” 
she said. “ It’s dry at first ; but you’ll soon get 
interested — especially when you find out how little 
you know about it. You’re welcome to this copy; 
I can get another one.” 

Thanks,” said Miss Parker, regarding the book 
not as a means of improvement but as something she 
had gotten for nothing. Yet Marje was pleased 
that Cora had accepted her treasure, especially when 
its recipient began wetting her fingers to turn the 
pages. 

“ I’ll read every word of it if I die,” threatened 
Miss Parker ; and so will Ma. She reads every- 
thing she can get — just to kill time. I laid awake 
last night, wishin’ I could get a little bit more 
schoolin’.” 

“ I used to bother so much about those little verbs, 
lay and lie, and sit and set,'' said Marje, having 
seen it was the right time to give Miss Parker a 
very helpful pointer. “ Jean and I call them the 
troublesome words, because they bother everybody 
— especially the people that have to hear them. 
Jean and I made up a little song, so we could learn 
to use them correctly. Do you remember it, Jean? ” 

As the song and the lesson incorporated were 


282 The Merry makers in Chicago 

still fresh in Jean’s memory, she piped forth to 
the tune of “ Yankee Doodle ” : 

I set my screen against the door, 

Just as I set it Friday; 

As I have set it oft before, 

To make the room look tidy. 

I sit so still and thoughtful, too, 

Just as I sat last Monday; 

As I have sat the whole week through — 

I hope I can on Sunday. 

I lay my garments on the chair, 

Just as I laid them last time; 

As I so oft have laid them there 
When sleep came as a pastime. 

And now I lie upon my cot, 

Just as I lay last night, dear; 

As I have lain since as a tot 
I first saw Life’s gay light here.” 

Jean’s earnest vocalizing seemed to be wasted, so 
far as anything instructive was concerned ; for Cora 
Parker was in spasms of merriment by the time the 
song was at an end. Jean looked at her in surprise. 

“ You’ve got the cutest way of singin’ it,” de- 
clared the visitor, wiping her eyes. “ It’s enough 
to make a horse laugh — the way you ducked your 
head when you used the words sit and set, or lay 
and lie/^ 


283 


Marje's Caller 

‘‘ Jean did that for emphasis/' rather helplessly 
explained Marje. “ At any rate, since we began to 
sing that song, we’ve learned how to use those 
troublesome verbs so they won’t sound ridiculous. 
Of course, we ma*ke mistakes with some of the other 
troublesome words; but I don’t believe you’ll ever 
hear us say that we set up till midnight, or that we 
laid awake.” 

“ Marje composed the verses,” said Jean with 
pride. She’s written other poems about trouble- 
some words. Marje is a poetess — ” 

I should say she is,” agreed Miss Parker some- 
what too promptly as she beamed upon the family 
versifier. 

Some day Ned is going to have them published,” 
further boasted Jean. 

You’ll have a grand time working up from the 
bottom of the business to the top,” said Marje, 
determined to change the subject. “When you 
learn how to make frames, they’ll possibly set you 
to trimming. Then if your conduct and your Eng- 
lish are good enough, they’ll try you out as a sales- 
woman ; Aunt Esther said so. Some day you may 
be a buyer — be sent to New York once or twice 
a year. Or you might have a shop of your own.” 

“ Indeed I will,” cried Miss Parker, with great 


284 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

faith in her own ability. I’ll be a sales lady in- 
side of a year; I’ll have all the Big Bugs callin’ 
for Miss Parker.” 

“ Aunt Esther says,” began Marje haltingly, ' 
“ you’ll have to be pleasing and accommodating as 
well as honest and industrious. You must learn 
how people of refinement act and talk — and use 
their voices. Why can’t you arrange to take your 
luncheons at the Y. W. C. A. ? You’d find so many 
girls with high ideals there. Do you read much? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t hurt myself at it,” said Miss Parker 
indififerently. I have to save my eyes all I can — 
and I get awful tired. Real life is worryin’ enough 
without botherin’ about stories that ain’t true. 
Somebody gave me ‘ Lena Rivers ’ to read. I didn’t 
care much for the girl; she was such a sap-head.” 

“ ril give you a list of the Hundred Great 
Novels,” said Marje with alacrity. You can get 
them all at the public library. And Mr. Smith says 
you’ll have to learn all about materials — such as 
cloths and silks — and know how to handle them. 
Oh, Miss Parker, you’ll have a wonderful time im- 
proving ! ” 

“I’m dead sure of that,” acquiesced the caller, 
not in the least daunted. “ I’m goin’ to work hard. 
I’ll learn how to use grammar and be a lady — 


Marje's Caller 285 

and how to Handle materials and people — or know 
why not.” 

“ Aunt Esther and Rex are coming,” was Jean’s 
delighted announcement. From the bay-window 
she could see her aunt’s motor-car, a block away; 
it was approaching rapidly, under a canopy of wav- 
ing tree-tops. ‘‘ I do hope they’ve had a nice time.” 

‘‘ You must stay and have tea with us. Miss 
Parker,” was Marje’s imperative invitation as she 
rose suddenly. Aunt Esther always has tea at 
this time of day, no matter how warm the weather 
is. I don’t care much for tea, but I like the cus- 
tom of having it with friends; it’s so sociable.” 

“ Goodness sakes ! I’ll have to make tracks,” 
cried their caller, looking panic-stricken. She 
seized her hat and with unsteady hands began put- 
ting it on. ‘‘ I merely come over to thank you for 
what you’ve done for me. But I’d as soon think of 
meetin’ Queen Mary as your Aunt Esther.” 

“ But you must stay,” almost commanded Marje. 
“ It will give you a fine chance to study a real lady. 
I hope Aunt Esther will be herself — not nervous. 
You must remember that she’s the one that made 
it possible for you to start in that French shop. 
Some day she may be buying all her hats of you; 
that is, if you make good — and you surely will,” 


286 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Thus importuned, Miss Parker could do nothing 
else than accept the invitation. Again she rolled 
up her black-cotton gloves and put them in the 
pocket of her jacket. Then she took on such dig- 
nity that Marje felt encouraged. “ I think I’d like 
to fix my hair,” said Miss Parker, after glancing 
at herself in a mirror. 

“ Yes, do; I’ll take you back to my room,” volun- 
teered Marje, leading the way. “ No doubt you’d 
like to wash your face, too.” 

‘‘Not much! I’ve spent too much time on my 
face to want to wash it off,” laughed Miss Parker, 
following her hostess down the long hall. 

“ Jean,” Marje called back ; “ won’t you please get 
the tea-table ready while I get the tea and help 
Miss Parker? Be right at the door, so Aunt Esther 
won’t have to ring. It’s always pleasant to have 
some one waiting for you. Come right on. Miss 
Parker.” 

Accordingly, Mrs. Fortune and Rex were met 
at the door by a smiling little girl who made a great 
fuss over their safe return. Then she flew about 
setting the small tea-table. She thought her aunt 
very lovely as she stood in the library-hall; for 
Mrs. Fortune was wearing white again, and a hat 
suggesting by its cool appearance that it was highly 


287 


Marje's Caller 

appropriate for mid-summer. And indeed, that 
lady had improved much in appearance since that 
hot day her relatives had arrived from the East; 
for the light of greater contentment shone in her 
eyes, and no distrust nor apprehension twitched the 
corners of her mouth. 

Did you have a nice time? ” asked Jean, busily 
arranging napkins for five. 

‘‘Splendid — didn’t we, Rex?” responded Mrs. 
Fortune with a sly wink at her nephew to indicate 
that they had many happy secrets of their own. 

“ Sure we did,” stoutly agreed the boy, taking 
advantage of Marje’s absence to throw his hat on 
the floor. “ We went over to Lincoln Park to see 
the bears — and we had peanuts.” 

“Oh, Aunt Esther!” squealed Jean, dropping a 
spoon. 

“ Yes, we did,” confessed her aunt, laughing so 
heartily that Jean joined in with her. 

“ It’s no harm to eat peanuts,” said Jean; “ but I 
can’t imagine Aunt Esther doing such a thing — 
especially in a public park. Rex must have coaxed 
you into it.” 

“ No, he didn’t,” denied Aunt Esther. “ I was 
trying to think of something that would please him, 
and I happened to think of peanuts. Then I re- 


288 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

membered that I hadn’t eaten one for years and 
years — so I got two bagsful, and we went off to 
a quiet corner and ate every one of them. They 
tasted like old times.” 

Oh, look at the little sugar-cakes with red cin- 
namon-drops on ’em!” shouted Rex as Jean set 
them on the table. For to the enthusiastic Merry- 
makers every diversion, however slight, was an 
event. 

We’re to have a guest for tea,” said Jean guard- 
edly. ‘‘ I forgot to tell you. Aunt Esther. It’s 
Miss Cora Parker, the girl you hired to work by 
the day — the one you got a position in that French 
shop. She’s going to be a great milliner some day, 
and a lady of refinement; Marje said so.” 

At this announcement Mrs. Fortune ceased joking 
with Rex and permitted her face to take on a very 
sober aspect. Surely the Merrymakers had marched 
rough-shod over her scruples and downright ani- 
mosities for the past few days ; but the fact that she 
was being compelled to take afternoon tea with a 
faithless maid-of-all-work was almost more than 
she could bear. She wanted to scream outright, 
or to take a headache tablet. Yet in that trying 
moment she managed to sit her chair with unprec- 
edented dignity. 


Marje's Caller 289 

“ You know, the poor girl has never had any 
chance,” went on Jean, with some appreciation of 
her aunt’s feelings. “ Marje says she lives in a 
horrid place — dusty and stuffy, with big-flowered 
wall-paper — and a fish market down stairs — and 
her mother crippled up with rheumatism. She’s 
going to learn to speak English better — and read 
good books — and watch how ladies act — ” 

But Jean never finished her pacific eulogy of Miss 
Cora Parker; for that young lady had already re- 
turned to the drawing-room. There she stood, arm 
in arm with Marje. Jean almost cried out in 
astonishment upon discovering the change that had 
befallen to Miss Parker under the patient but per- 
sistent ministrations of Marje. She had actually 
taken long strides towards that queenly dignity pos- 
sessed in common by superior ladies. For Miss 
Parker’s cheeks were no longer purplish-red, but 
their own natural color — a healthy and very be- 
coming brown ; also, her hair, dark and rather curly, 
had been arranged in simple but becoming style. 
Furthermore, she wore something white about her 
neck — a bit of filmy stuff belonging to Marje; 
it contrasted pleasantly with her black dress and 
gave her a cool and clean appearance. 

Mrs. Fortune, likewise, seemed impressed by the 


290 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

improvement in her former maid’s appearance. On 
the contrary, the young woman showed no pleasure 
in 'meeting her former mistress. She stood await- 
ing some sort of recognition. 

Both Marje and Jean were greatly relieved when 
their aunt rose to the occasion. She also rose to her 
feet and extended a welcoming hand to the girl in 
the faded black dress. “Wasn’t I stupid, Cora — 
not to look into my writing-desk for my lost valu- 
ables!” she said with a light laugh. Her remark 
was evidently taken as an apology, and tacitly ac- 
cepted by Miss Parker. 

“ I don’t blame you for gettin’ excited about it,” 
said the caller, taking the chair pointed out by her 
hostess. “No one but a ninny would think of 
lookin’ inside of a writin’-desk for such things. It 
was all my fault.” 

“ I’ve got the tea piping hot,” said Marje, think- 
ing to end the rather painful interview and get 
things to running smoothly. 

But Cora Parker was not one that evaded oppor- 
tunities to set herself right. “ I intended to put 
’em away in a proper place,” she went on, “ but 
I got in such a hurry, I just spilt them into the 
first opening I could find. I never was much for 
house-keepin’ anyway.” 


291 


Marje's Caller 

Aill this time Marje was pouring tea, while Rex 
stood at her side making personal remarks about 
the cinnamon cakes. Jean, knowing by intuition 
that as yet her aunt and her former maid were not 
reconciled to each other, tactfully broke into the 
conversation. “ Isn’t it nice,” she said, “ to see 
Aunt Esther taking tea in her pretty hat ? ” 

'' Indeed it is,” agreed Marje. ‘‘ I wish Aunt 
Esther would wear it around the house all the time ; 
it’s a dream.” 

*Mf I could make a hat like that, I wouldn’t do 
a thing but pat myself on the back,” commented 
Miss Parker, suddenly losing her self-consciousness 
at the sight of the millinery masterpiece adorning 
Mrs. Fortune’s head. “ Only I wouldn’t put all the 
trimmin’ at the front — and leave the rear of it 
standin’ up bare and plain, like a stump struck by 
lightnin’.” 

Marje caught her breath, and at the same time 
set down the teapot till she could compose herself. 
She hoped Mrs. Fortune would not take offense; 
though, for two reasons she had the right to be ex- 
ceedingly angry: her best hat had been maligned, 
and she had paid out seventy-five dollars for it. 

How should you remedy the defect?” asked 
Mrs. Fortune, rather scornfully. 


292 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Well,” went on Cora, forgetful of such un- 
important incidents as English and manners when 
hats were being discussed ; “ in the first place, it’s 
a hat with a fairly good shape; but the goose of a 
trimmer has made the top of it look like a wreath 
— the kind they stick on monuments out in them 
I-talian buryin’-grounds — and it looks lop-sided. 
I can’t just explain how bad it really looks — but I 
wish I had my hands on it.” 

I believe you’re right about it, Cora,” admitted 
Mrs. Fortune, who with a curiosity of a young girl 
had sprung up to view herself in the mirror. 

There’s something wrong about it, but I can’t 
make out what it is.” 

'' My fingers just itch to get at it,” persisted Miss 
Parker, neglecting her tea despite her thirst. 

Won’t you trust me to change it a little? ” 

Yes, go ahead.” 

Marje and Jean cringed when Cora, after being 
supplied witli sewing utensils, ripped into the choice 
velvet, pulled gently at the maline, snipped with her 
scissors, gave a turn here and there, re-arranged 
a few flowers, and added a few artistic touches 
too subtle to be described. Her task finally ac- 
complished, she set the hat back on Mrs. Fortune’s 
head and gave it a slight tilt. 


293 


Marje's Caller 

‘‘ Why, Auntie — it’s a different hat ! ” cried 
Marje in ecstasy. '‘No — it isn’t a hat — it’s a 
poem ! ” 

“ It’s bewildering! ” exclaimed Jean. 

“ Miss Parker surely is a milliner; she’ll be in 
the trimming-room before she knows it,” further en- 
dorsed Marje. 

" Yes — it’s ever so much better,” echoed Mrs. 
Fortune, who was positive she knew all about hats 
and how to wear them. She seemed to have sudden 
respect for her former maid ; in fact, her attitude 
changed completely as she said : " I thank you a 

hundred times, Cora. I think I’ll have to call you 
Miss Parker in the future.” 

Cora did not reply ; she was too busy studying the 
hat at all angles. After a few more twists and as 
many gentle pats she finally said : There — it’s 

perfect now. It’s the most becomin’ hat I ever laid 
eyes on.” 

" But how did you cultivate those magic 
touches? ” Mrs. Fortune demanded. 

“ I don’t know ; they came naturally, I s’pose. 
Most of them milliners ain’t real artists; they’re just 
day laborers. The first thing about a hat is its 
lines. S’pose, for instance, a woman’s nose ain’t 
quite straight, why put a hat on her with such 


294 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

straight lines and angles that everybody begins to 
stare at her crooked nose? I admire seein’ hats 
correspond with faces and figgers; but most mil- 
liners are such boobs — ” 

“ Oh, Miss Parker! implored Marje, though in- 
clined to laugh, now that she was not compelled 
to act as chaperon. 

“ But it’s the truth,” firmly insisted Miss Parker. 
“ I can’t help but rave when I see some of them 
outrageous things women wear on their heads. 
Whenever I see a head-piece that don’t look like 
nothin’ on earth, I always say to myself that 
nobody but a woman or a monkey would wear 
it.” 

When Ned and Carl came home, Mrs. Fortune 
and the three girls were having a very engrossing 
conversation regarding hats. But by the time they 
had entered the drawing-room. Miss Parker had 
suddenly returned to the tortoise-shell of her reti- 
cence. Marje was indeed glad to discover that her 
protegee was not unduly fond of strange young men. 
“ Miss Parker,” she announced with her usual 
pride, “ these are my two brothers, Ned and Carl.” 
Miss Parker gave two stiff little bows and looked 
uneasy. 

Why don’t you take off your hat and stay a 


295 


Marje^s Caller 

while, Aunt Esther?” joked Ned. ''Yet I can’t 
blame you for keeping it on. Though I’m a poor 
judge of women’s hats, I never saw a more becom- 
ing one; it seems to be a part of yourself, just like 
your hair.” 

"That’s just it — that’s just what I was tryin’ 
to say ! ” shrieked Miss Parker with an enthusiasm 
that sent patches of natural color to her cheeks. 
" It looks just like it grew there. It don’t look 
like a wool tidy throwed over the back of a velvet 
chair, or a mustard plaster crumpled up on a bare 
shoulder.” 

" I bought it at one of the most fashionable places 
in Chicago, just to please you youngsters,” said 
Aunt Esther, joining in the laugh. " You seemed 
to think my old hats so black and unbecoming, I 
got disgusted with them. And Miss Parker put 
on the finishing touches. I predict that she’ll have 
a place of her own some day.” 

But the crowning event of the afternoon occurred 
when Mrs. Fortune and her nephews and nieces 
took Miss Parker to her humble home in Halsted 
.Street, despite the pleadings of the promising young 
milliner that they spare themselves the agony of 
viewing the unsightly locality in which she lived. 
For not only did this ride and these agreeable asso- 


296 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

dates afford Miss Parker the happiest moments of 
her life, but this visit to the slums caused the Merry- 
makers to return to their aunt’s cozy apartment with 
grateful hearts, — all of them charitably disposed 
towards the girl who had kept alive her love of the 
artistic, notwithstanding that she had to live above 
a fish-market. 

‘‘ It was touching, the way that dear Miss Parker 
thanked me for giving her a start in life,” said 
Mrs. Fortune when again they were seated by the 
open windows and looking out upon the expanse of 
tree-tops. “ I don’t deserve any credit. I never 
knew before that I could be of any especial help to 
anybody, outside of paying out money for things 
they actually need.” 

“ I’m very anxious for her to start right,” said 
Marje thoughtfully. You see I meddled in her 
affairs — that day I was sure she stole your furs 
and things — though I meant it all right. And I 
wanted to do something to atone for my blunder. 
I’m sure Jack Gore would have called me a little 
prig if he had heard me telling her things that might 
be of help to her — when we were taking her 
home. Yet she taught me something I shall never 
forget.” 

“ What was it, Marje?” asked Ned. 


297 


Marje's Caller 

‘‘ She told me that I was a very nice girl, but that 
I didn’t deserve any especial credit. She said any 
girl would be just as nice, if she had any advantages, 
unless she was a born loon.” 


CHAPTER X 


THE COMPROMISE THAT ENDED HAPPILY 

On the night before that dreaded day the Merry- 
makers were to leave Chicago — Ned to return to 
New York, and his brothers and sisters to their old 
home at Johnstown — they were thrown into a 
lengthy discussion that caused Jack Gore more 
amusement than the Republican Convention during 
its liveliest moment. Likewise, Gath Singleton, 
who was also present, thought the proceedings more 
absorbing than the most complicated drama he had 
ever seen enacted by the stock company at the old 
North Side Theater. From the first, Gath was con- 
vinced that Ned, being the head of his family, should 
have the right to manage the affairs of his house- 
hold as he deemed best; but Ned, it seemed, was 
inclined to let each of the family, regardless of 
age or sex, voice his own honest opinion. Per- 
haps that was why arbitrations and striking com- 
promises were so interesting to the Merrymakers, 
and why they were always satisfied with the re- 
sults. 


298 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 299 

A gentle breeze from the moon-lit Lake was rust- 
ling the tree-tops and cooling Mrs. Fortune’s hand- 
some apartment. In one corner of the drawing- 
room stood a table heaped high with empty ice- 
cream dishes and the remnant of a frosted cake; for 
Jack Gore had given his friends a treat, in order 
to commemorate their last evening together in the 
great western metropolis. Mrs. Fortune had 
lighted her silver candelabrum on the center-table. 
The effect was charming; for in that subdued and 
flickering light, eight kindred souls seemed to be 
reaching out with increasing desire to approach one 
another more closely. Ned likened the little party 
to that significant piece of sculpture known as The 
Solitude of the Soul,” which he considered one of 
the most impressive things to be seen in Chicago. 
It represented a group of human beings banded 
closely together, each of them groping in the dark 
and unable to touch the hand of his brother. Ned 
knew that the medium of understanding is more 
effective than any other in bridging the gulf that 
separates the souls of men; therefore, it had always 
been his aim to get his brothers and sisters upon 
an understanding basis, thus broadening their judg- 
ment and insuring greater harmony. 

At this particular time, when the discussion had 


SOO The Merrymakers in Chicago 

been going on for at least a quarter of an hour, Mrs. 
Fortune was sitting on the couch, with Jean by her 
side, the others of the family in a semi-circle facing 
her. Gath and Jack were interested spectators from 
a distance. 

“ I think it would be a crime to leave Jean be- 
hind,” said Marje positively. Her voice had taken 
to trembling, and she had lost that calm dignity 
Bess had enjoined her to wear as an outer gar- 
ment while visiting her Chicago aunt. 

‘‘ But it will only be for a little while,” argued 
Ned. “ Besides, it will be a good thing for both 
Jean and Aunt Esther.” 

“Yes — I need Jean,” declared Mrs. Fortune 
with great stress. ‘ I simply can't let you all go 
to-morrow. If you’ll let her stay. I’ll lock the 
house, take a long trip on the Manitou, stay two or 
three weeks at Mackinac, then come back to Chi- 
cago and send Jean on to Johnstown. Please, 
Marje, don’t leave me entirely alone.” 

“We don’t want to leave you alone, but how 
can we help it?” returned Marje, sorely harassed, 
for the reason that she was opposing her aunt with 
unusual obstinacy. “ I know Bess wouldn’t like 
it,” she continued in rambling fashion. “ She’d 
worry herself ill. You see. Aunt Esther, she doesn’t 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 301 

know you very well yet. She — she might say that 
we shouldn’t have left Jean with a stranger.” 

“ But I could explain it to Bess so she’d under- 
stand,” assured Ned, who was his aunt’s most faith- 
ful champion at that moment. 

“ I don’t see why you take that view of it, Ned,” 
said Marje reproachfully. ‘'Of course, it would be 
all the same to you whether Jean goes back home 
with us, or takes that steamer ride on that — that 
tremendous Lake; you’re going to New York. But 
it would be terrible for the rest of us — to go home 
without her.” 

“ It seems to me,” went on Ned, “ that Aunt 
Esther and Jean should be permitted to influence us 
in this matter. Auntie wants Jean to stay, and 
Jean is just as eager. Now if there is any logical 
reason why Jean shouldn’t have a longer visit with 
Aunt Esther, speak up, everybody.” 

“ Bess wouldn’t like it,” repeated Marje. 

“ It’s a girl’s place to be at home with the rest 
of her family,” seconded Carl. 

“Jean’s a cry-baby and gets homesick,” added 
Rex, for once taking sides with Marje. 

As the matter stood, a tie existed that could not 
be broken except by coercion or bribery — so Jack 
Gore thought. 


302 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

The last time Bess sent Jean down town for 
some eggs,” continued Rex, she cried every step of 
the way back home — ’cause she was homesick.’’ 

The serene and docile Jean bridled indignantly. 

I never did such a thing in my life — and you 
know you’re telling a fib, Rex Merrymaker ! ” she 
sputtered. I was just a little nervous because I 
broke an egg — somebody jostled me. I was stop- 
ping to hear that funny patent medicine man play 
his banjo and sing. You’re getting so you stretch 
things terribly, Rex.” 

'' Well, Jean dear,” tactfully interrupted Mrs. 
Fortune,” you want to stay with me — don’t you? 
We’ll have a lovely trip, and you’ll get back home 
in time for school. Then too, it will be a good 
thing to separate you and Rex for a while.” 

‘‘Yes — I want to stay,” declared Jean, giving 
her younger brother a disapproving glance. “ Not 
because I want the trip on the Lake, but because 
you need me. It would be cruel for all of us to 
leave you at the same time.” 

“ Just about as cruel as it was for all of us to 
light down upon her hospitality in hot weather,” 
put in Jack Gore. 

“ But I wanted them to come,” stoutly affirmed 
Mrs. Fortune. “Yet I didn’t know I was going 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 303 

to grow so much attached to them — and I wasn’t 
sure I could stand their noise. And there is just 
one thing about it, Marje, if you all go at once, 
1 11 put on black again and get back into my shell.” 

You mustn’t! Why, Aunt Esther, you couldn’t 
be so foolish!” cried Marje. 

Why can’t you all stay and go along with Mrs. 
Fortune? ” suggested Gath, for the first time enter- 
ing into the conversation. “ She’s offered to take 
you on that splendid trip to Mackinac if you’ll only 

go-’' 

‘‘ Aunt Esther has gone to enough expense al- 
ready,” said Carl in a manner meant to show that 
he considered the suggestion worthless. ‘‘We 
couldn’t think of adding to our great obligations. 
And Marje and I think that Bess has more right 
to have Jean back than Aunt Esther has to keep 
her.” 

“ But Bess will have the rest of you,” contended 
Mrs. Fortune. 

“ Nobody can take anybody else’s place, even in 
a big family,” checkmated Marje. “ Each person 
has his own corner, and if he gets out of it he’ll 
be missed.” 

“ Don’t you think your side is rather selfish, 
C^rl? ” teased Jack Gore. “ Looks to me as if you 


304 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

don’t want Jean t-o have the nice trip on the water, 
just because the rest of you can’t go.” 

This remark produced indignant protests, too 
rapidly uttered to be faithfully recorded. “ You’re 
dead wrong,” fired Carl. 

I’d never be envious of Jean,” said Marje with 
equal tensity. “ I’m too careful of my own com- 
fort to want to nurse such a maddening sensation 
as jealousy. You know you’re only joking. Jack.” 

‘‘We don’t seem to get anywhere,” went on Carl 
impatiently. “ Here we are, three on one side and 
three on the other — and all stubborn.” 

“ Let’s permit Mr. Gore to vote, too, so we can 
break the tie,” recommended Mrs. Fortune. 

“No, indeed; he’s on your side,” objected Carl. 

“ And Jack doesn’t belong to the family,” said 
Ned. “ I don’t like the idea of outsiders inter- 
fering with our domestic compromises.” 

“ I think I have it,” Mrs. Fortune said with a' 
roguish twinkle in her eye. “ My suggestion may 
not appeal to Carl or Marje; but it may lead to 
breaking up their side. Rex dear, shouldn’t you 
like to take the boat trip with Auntie and Jean?” 

“ That isn’t fair. Aunt Esther,” protested Marje. 
“ And it wouldn’t do. Rex would have to be sent 
to the reform school when he gets back home. You 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 305 

let him do just as he pleases, and he’s always want- 
ing something. He’d make you do terrible things, 
like he does Jean — possibly make you hang on 
express wagons or turn somersaults. He never 
stops teasing till he gets what he wants.” 

Contrary to the surmise held by Carl and Marje, 
Rex remained loyal to his own side. No, Auntie, 
I couldn’t go,” he said — but half-heartedly. ‘‘ I 
want to see Bess and get back to our ‘ gym ’ in the 
barn. All the kids come there to practice when I’m 
home.” 

“Poor Bess!” sympathized Mrs. Fortune. 
“ What responsibilities and noises she has to stand ! 
I’m sure she’d much rather you would stay with 
Auntie, Rex.” 

“ No, she wouldn’t,” bluntly refuted the young- 
ster. “ I know her better’n you do.” 

“ I’ll get you that tool-chest if you stay with me,” 
Mrs. Fortune continued with the zeal of an accom- 
plished temptress. She was not in the least daunted 
by Marje’s shocked surprise nor Carl’s open indig- 
nation at her lack of principle; she was too much 
accustomed to having her own way, and paying lib- 
erally for the privilege, if necessary. 

“ Well then, Carl — can’t you go with me? ” be- 
guiled Mrs. Fortune. 


306 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ I couldn’t even think of it,” declared Carl, for- 
getting to thank her for the invitation. “ I’ve had 
enough vacation. I must do some odd jobs and 
clean up a little cash before school begins.” 

‘‘How about you, Marje — will you go with 
me?” 

“ No, thanks; we promised Bess we’d come back 
as far as Johnstown with Ned — and Ned leaves 
to-morrow,” was Marje’s emphatic reply. 

“Little Angel Mother!” mocked Jack Gore. 
Marje colored; indeed she was tired of being con- 
sidered a little prig by Jack Gore, just because she 
was so conscientious in representing Bess in Chi- 
cago, in order to look after three brothers and a 
sister, none of whom were expected to be models 
of good behavior. 

“ Why don’t you say what you want done, Ned, 
and make ’em all act accordingly ? ” inquired Gath, 
beginning to tire of the discussion that showed no 
signs of ending before day-break. 

“ Oh, we always talk it over till the majority de- 
cides what is best,” laughed Ned, by no means in- 
clined to make use of Gath’s suggested bullyism. 
“ We’re all honest, and we’re going to present all 
our reasons for and against this argument before I 
act as arbiter and take drastic measures. Usually 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 307 

we can settle a point in no time at all; but this is 
one that seems to concern everybody in the family.’’ 

“Now if I were Mrs. Fortune,” jested Jack 
Gore, “ I’d keep bribing Rex till he came over to 
my way of thinking.” 

“ I just won’t be bribed,” was Rex’s defiant re- 
tort. All the other Merrymakers glanced at him 
with some degree of pride. Since he could hold 
out against such a tempting bribe as a tool-chest, 
they decided that his character had been greatly 
strengthened by his sojourn in Chicago. 

But they all looked disgusted when the youngster 
continued wildly: “If anybody bribes me, I’ll 
knock him down — and when he gets up I’ll knock 
him down — and when he gets up I’ll knock him 
down — and when — ” 

“ Hush ! ” “ That’s enough ! ” “ Smarty ! ” 

squelched the various members of his family. Evi- 
dently they had formed a good opinion of him too 
early in the game; for Rex, tired of the discussion, 
had suddenly lost his poise and was making a des- 
perate effort to be funny. He quickly subsided, 
nevertheless, and looked rather sheepish. 

“ Now I want to give my side of the question 
again,” pleaded Jean with over-wrought earnestness. 
“ I love you all — and you know it. It would 


308 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

break my heart to have Ned leave us when we get 
to Johnstown; and it will break my heart when you 
all go away to-morrow and leave me behind. But 
it would break my heart still more to leave Aunt 
Esther all alone. I want to stay, because it’s my 
duty; Aunt Esther thinks so, and so does Ned. So, 
Marje and Carl, sleep over it, and try to see it the 
right way.” 

Very appealing argument ! ” cried Jack, with an- 
other of his contagious laughs. Jean, it seems 
that your heart is bound to break, no matter what 
you do; so you might as well break it doing your 
duty; you’re a wise girl.” 

Carl seemed to have caught the essence of Jean’s 
moralizing, for he capitulated immediately. I 
guess it’s not necessary to sleep over it,” he said. 

I’m convinced that Jean wants to stay, and there’s 
no reason why she shouldn’t. I’ll give in.” 

“ So do I,” supplemented Marje without even 
a sigh, though she looked grave. Only I know 
she’ll get homesick.” 

“ No I shan’t,” declared Jean. I’ll bear up for 
Aunt Esther’s sake.” 

As for Mrs. Fortune, she almost shed tears as 
she thanked Marje and Carl for their sagacity in 
finally comprehending that she was right about it. 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 309 

It seems that everybody is in favor of Jean 
staying except this young rascal,” laughed Jack 
Gore, reaching over to give Rex a smart rap on 
the back. ‘‘They’re all against you, Rex; Jean is 
going to stay with Auntie.” 

“ I won’t let her stay ! ” cried Rex indignantly. 
“ She must go home. If she don’t go home. I’ll — ” 
“ Dearie, listen to me,” appealed Mrs. Fortune 
while Ned was making every effort to quiet his 
obstreperous charge. “ I want to be fair and square 
about it. Won’t you be satisfied, Rex, to let Jean 
stay with poor lonesome Auntie, just a few weeks? ” 
“ Yes, if you’ll get me that tool-chest you prom- 
ised,” was the child’s surprising retort. 

“ You’ll not get a tool-chest, young man,” said 
Ned with unusual authority. “ Go over to Aunt 
Esther now and tell her how glad you are to loan 
your sister to her for a few weeks. And on your 
way back, stop and tell Jean that you hope she’ll 
have a jolly trip on the water and be good company 
for Aunt Esther. And for the rest of the day be 
very kind to Jean. You’ve never been separated 
from her a whole day in all your life; but you’re 
going to be, in less than eighteen hours. Now be 
a nice boy instead of a grizzly bear or a red wolf 
or some of those other wild animals we don’t like.” 


310 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Whereupon Rex bounded from Ned’s lap and 
Jean met him half way. 

Thus the long discussion concerning whether Jean 
was to remain with her aunt, or to leave with the 
rest of her family, was amicably ended. The van- 
quished ones were entirely satisfied that the in- 
telligent majority should rule, inasmuch as every- 
body had been permitted to have his own say, and 
no bribes had besmirched the transaction. 

On the following day, nevertheless, a pall seemed 
hanging over the heads of the Merrymakers. It is 
as much of a trial to leave Chicago — after one 
learns to love her — as it is to try getting accus- 
tomed to her busy confusion; but, greater than 
the pang produced by their thought of leaving this 
Queen of the West, was the heart-ache they suffered 
in forecasting the moment when one of their band 
should be torn from them, in the midst of their tears 
and farewells. All morning long Jean felt an in- 
clination to weep over such touching incidents as 
an especially tender glance from Ned; or the sight 
of Marje trying to act as if she did not care, not- 
withstanding that her eyes were still red from weep- 
ing in her small bedroom when nobody was look- 
ing. Then too, Rex was so unusually kind and 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 311 

generous; not once did he make a dare that any 
high-bred lady would have rejected with blushes. 
Moreover, she kept thinking of the old home at 
Johnstown, with darling Bess waiting on the front 
piazza for the returning wanderers. 

“Where’s Aunt Esther?” Marje finally inquired 
as they sat on one of the immense station benches 
that reminded them of church pews. Travelers 
were thronging this vast apartment, many of them 
accompanied by red-capped porters, while the train 
caller in lugubrious tones kept announcing the va- 
rious trains and the long list of cities at which each 
of them was to stop. 

No one knew where Mrs. Fortune had gone, 
though Ned recalled that she had promised to be 
back in a few minutes. 

“ I dare say she’s bringing us more things to take 
along,” continued Marje. “ I never knew such a 
dear. I suppose we’d be dreadfully spoiled if we 
weren’t the kind of people that don’t get spoiled. 
And she sent such lovely things to Bess, and bought 
us some new school clothes.” 

“We must all write to her as soon as we get 
home,” said Carl, who was standing to guard their 
pile of valises and bundles. 

“ And you must write to me — every day,” was 


312 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

Jean’s rather rickety appeal. She was sitting be- 
tween Marje and Rex trying to bear up for the 
sake of the family. 

‘‘Write us funny letters, Jean,” begged Carl; 
“and we’ll do the same — probably illustrate them 
with our own drawings. And you must tell us 
all about the Lake trip and the people you meet. 
I’d love to visit Petoskey and Mackinac and all 
those Michigan resorts you’re going to see. You’re 
a lucky girl, Jean.” 

“ Oh, I don’t know — ” And to their alarm the 
others noted that Jean’s upper lip was a-tremble. 
What was still more to be dreaded, Rex showed 
unmistakable symptoms of a grief paroxysm bound 
to rise above all the other strident noises like a 
balloon surmounting the clouds. Fortunate it was 
that at that crucial juncture. Jack Gore came up with 
some time-tables and a bag of peaches. 

“ Hello ! ” he called out merrily. “ Seems to me 
you look like a stranded show troupe — what with 
your long faces and all your baggage. You’ve got 
everything a human being could possibly carry ex- 
cept a bird-cage and a cat in a poke. Well, Neddy 
boy, are you glad to go back to little old New 
York?” 

“ Not especially,” said Ned rather faintly. “ I’ve 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 313 

enjoyed these ten days. This Convention was more 
fun than the desk of the night city editor; it will 
be hard for me to get back to the grind again. I’m 
surely grateful to Cutter for sending me on this 
trip.” 

‘‘ And I’m sure he’s pleased with your work,” 
said Jack Gore confidently. Maybe, you’ll get an- 
other raise in your salary. Wasn’t it jolly that we 
could come together? We’ve been pals so long, 
I’d have hated to be left behind.” 

“ Everything has turned out as well as I dared to 
hope,” went on Ned reflectively. “ In the first 
place, I was glad Mr. Cutter showed me such cour- 
tesy — sent me out to cover this important assign- 
ment, and believed in my ability to handle it. Then 
I’m glad I hunted up Aunt Esther, and that she 
turned out to be such a prize. I’m also glad that 
she sent for the kiddies — and that they were all 
here inside of twenty-four hours. And I’m glad 
we’re going to stop in Johnstown a few minutes, 
so I can see Bess.” 

“ You’re the original Glad Boy,” joked Jack Gore. 
‘‘ You’re encroaching on the territory of ‘ Polly- 
anna.’ ” 

But where is Gath Singleton ? ” side-tracked 
Ned. 


314 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

“ He didn’t come to the train with us,” informed 
Carl. We decided that the honor of seeing us 
off belongs to Aunt Esther and Jean.” 

“Ned, have you got the tickets yet?” inquired 
Marje, as usual taking a motherly interest in keep- 
ing events running smoothly. 

“Yes; they’re safe in my vest-pocket,” assured 
her big brother. “ You’ll have a whole lower berth 
alone, Marje, with Carl and Rex overhead, and 
Jack and I across the aisle. And we’ll have plenty 
of room for the luggage. Surely Aunt Esther has 
supplied us with enough provisions to last us a 
month.” 

“ And she actually wanted to pay Jean and me 
for keeping house,” put in Marje. “ I told her I 
thought we ought to pay for the privilege of hand- 
ling her lovely dishes and furniture, and for every- 
thing we ate; we seemed to be eating all the time. 
I hope we can prove our gratitude to Auntie some 
day. She bought us everything we happened to 
mention — and many things we don’t actually 
need — ” 

“ Except a tool-chest,” interrupted Rex, doubt- 
lessly sorry that he had not accepted the bribe. 

“ And there’ll be no tool-chest if I can prevent it,” 
said Ned with such sternness Jack found it difficult 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 315 

to keep from spoiling his friend’s discipline by 
roaring at the top of his voice. 

Rex was not impressed by Ned’s reprimand; he 
was too much engrossed in watching travelers and 
in holding Jean’s hand, though he pricked up his 
ears when Jack Gore suggested that they take a 
stroll through the big station, and, on their way 
back, stop for an ice-cream soda. 

“ We have loads of time,” he added. 

“ One of us would have to stay to mind the bag- 
gage and wait for Aunt Esther,” said Marje. I 
thank you. Jack; but I believe I’d rather not go.” 

“And I couldn’t very well leave Marje alone — 
she’s just a young girl,” explained Carl. 

“ And I think, being the eldest. I’d better stay 
behind with the rest,” laughed Ned. 

“I mustn’t leave Jean,” piped Rex, holding 
tighter to the hand of her, who, during the past 
eighteen hours, had turned out to be his favorite 
sister. 

“ And I couldn’t swallow an ice-cream soda,” was 
Jean’s plaintive, excuse. 

“ I never saw such a family to hang together,” 
ridiculed Jack Gore. “ 1 suppose when you get to 
be sixty or seventy, you’ll all be sitting in a circle, 
or else marching along the street in a solid proces- 


316 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

sion, like a brass band. Now Fm not selfish enough 
to break up a family, so Fll forget all about the 
ice-cream soda.” 

You’ve been very kind to us during our stay 
in Chicago,” Marje gratefully confessed, entirely 
forgetful of the many times Jack Gore had teased 
her. “ You seem like one of our family.” 

I haven’t done half so much for you as you 
have for me,” Jack gallantly replied. Think of 
the round rebukes you’ve given me, and the square 
meals, too. In spite of the Convention, Fll never 
forget these jolly days spent in Chicago.” 

‘‘ Nor I,” said Ned with fervor. “ Each day 
seems to have afforded us an episode with a happy 
ending. And the Chicago people surely have 
treated us well; they excel all others in their hos- 
pitality as well as in their town pride.” 

As they continued their fragmentary conversa- 
tion, Marje again was lost in reverie pertaining to 
Cora Parker, who that morning had sent her a 
jar of Chinese ginger and a note remarkable for 
its faulty English, yet none the less acceptable, be- 
cause it fairly beamed with the thanks of a worthy 
girl about to avail herself of the way that had been 
opened to her by Marje and her aunt. Indeed it 
seemed almost improbable that Aunt Esther’s maid- 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 317 

by-the-day — who had left without giving sufficient 
notice, been discovered by Carl in the crowded work- 
room of a large department store, and hounded by 
Carl and herself because of their suspicion against 
her — had at last proven herself worthy of the best 
they could do for her, in order to make atonement 
for the annoyance they had created in her own 
household. She believed that Cora Parker would 
make a success in life, and she devoutly hoped 
that she would. But she forgot all about Cora 
Parker when once more the thought of separating 
from Jean sprang at her like an ugly phantom. 

Then all these various meditations and odd bits 
of chatter were interrupted by Mrs. Fortune, totally 
unlike the pale and fretful lady who had met her 
young nieces and nephews at this same station only 
a few days before. To-day she wore a becom- 
ing gray dress, the plainest of her large collection. 
Instead of appearing depressed — as they had every 
reason to expect — she seemed extremely blithe and 
disposed to make the best of everything, perhaps 
for the reason that Jean was to be spared to her. 

Here’s Aunt Esther,” shouted Carl, while the 
others greeted the returning one, each in his own 
enthusiastic way. '‘We were afraid you had been 
kidnapped.” 


318 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

*'No; Tve just been looking after a few impor- 
tant matters,” she explained with an indulgent smile 
all round. ‘‘ I had to get a porter and do some 
telephoning. Are you all ready for the trip ? ” 

‘‘Yes — but we’re not ready to leave you,” said 
Marje brokenly. 

Fortunately, their train was announced at that 
trying moment by the colored man with the loud 
and sepulchral voice; it was scheduled to arrive on 
Track Six. The boys began scrambling for the 
luggage; and soon. Jack Gore with a heavy grip in 
one hand, began supporting Marje with exaggerated 
care, as if she were a very incompetent but precious 
old mother. Marje paid no more heed to his fun- 
making than she did to the crowd surging all about 
them. As for Jean, she tried to laugh, but she felt 
that familiar and horrifying lump forming in her 
throat — a lump that seemed to flutter like a hum- 
ming-bird pinned down by the broken bough of a 
thorn-bush. She knew if anybody said the least 
thing endearing, she would burst into a torrent of 
grief. Aunt Esther turned and gazed at her sym- 
pathetically as they approached the cruel iron 
gate that was to separate them from that merry 
party. 

‘‘ You’re willing to keep your promise and stay 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 319 

with Aunt Esther ? ” she asked, her eyes mirroring 
apprehension. 

Ye-e-s,” murmured Jean, trudging bravely 
along between Marje and Rex, both of whom were 
holding her hands so tightly that they ached. 

But Mrs. Fortune was not willing to tarry behind 
at the gate. Superintending three or four colored 
porters, whom she had engaged to help them with 
their valises and bundles, she passed under the iron 
arch. Soon she was inside the coach, where she 
sat down on one of the plush seats in Ned’s com- 
partment and began chatting gayly, though the 
harrowing ordeal of parting was almost upon 
them. 

When Marje saw that her aunt and Jean had but 
one minute more in which to say their good-byes, 
she suddenly grew panic-stricken. Oh, Auntie, 
please hurry! Don’t wait till the train starts; I 
don’t want anything to happen to you or Jean.” 

Mrs. Fortune laughed indifferently and settled 
herself still more comfortably. “ I thought it over 
last night,” she explained. And I couldn’t bear 
to break up the happy family just yet; so I decided 
to strike a compromise with myself. I’m going to 
Johnstown instead of to Mackinac.” 

As yet her hearers could not believe their ears, 


320 The Merrymakers in Chicago 

though Rex began whooping and the others uttered 
exclamations expressing both joy and surprise. 

I engaged the tickets for Jean and me this 
morning,” proceeded Mrs. Fortune ; “ and I ar- 
ranged last night to have them call for my trunk 
early to-day. It had all Jean’s things in, just as 
she had packed them for Mackinac. You see, I 
played a little joke on you — and it was great fun. 
But I’m sorry I made poor Jean suffer. Indeed, 
I only wanted to see if she cared enough for me 
to — to stay behind. And she did — bless her ! 
I’ll reward her for showing such loyalty. But do 
you suppose Bessie will be put out about my swoop- 
ing down upon her so unexpectedly ? ” 

She’ll be the happiest person you ever Itiet,” 
said Marje above the roar of the train. It was evi- 
dent, however, that Bess could be no more pleased 
than was the conscientious Marje herself. You’ll 
be such good company — and you’ll have a grand 
time. I’m sure,” she added with the enthusiasm of 
a lively girl glad to let her motherly responsibilities 
fall upon the shoulders of an older and more capable 
woman. 

Jean, too much relieved to shed tears, joined with 
Marje in extending to their beloved relative a warm 
welcome in advance. “ Bess doesn’t mind company 


The Compromise That Ended Happily 321 

in hot weather,” she added assuringly; “that is — 
if they’re willing to help with the work. You and 
I will make the beds, Aunt Esther.” 

Thus it happened that Mrs. Fortune, who had got- 
ten into that calamitous state of nerves that rebels 
against noises and children, had locked up her ele- 
gant apartment for the rest of the summer, that 
she might go to Johnstown and grow into the home 
life of the Merrymakers, each day gleaning ex- 
periences to brighten her old age with sustaining 
memories. 


THE END 















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A TEXAS BLUE BONNET 

By Caroline E. Jacobs. 

“ The book’s heroine, Blue Bonnet, has the very finest 
kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness.” — Chicago 
Inter-Ocean, 

BLUE BONNET^S RANCH PARTY 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Edyth Ellerbeck Read. 
“ A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every 
chapter.” — Boston Transcript. 

BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 

“ It is bound to become popular because of its whole- 
someness and its many human touches.” — Boston Globe. 

BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 
“It cannot fail to prove fascinating to girls in their 
teens.” — New York Sun. 

BLUE BONNET — DEBUTANTE 

By Lela Horn Richards. 

An interesting picture of the unfolding of life for 
Blue Bonnet. 

BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS 

By Lela Horn Richards. 

“ The author’s intimate detail and charm of narration 
gives the reader an interesting story of the heroine’s war 
activities.” — Pittsburgh Leader. 

A — 1 


fSE PAGS COMPAJfTS 


THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES 

By Harrison Adams 

Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume $1 .65 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO; Or, 

Clearing the Wilderness. 

Such books as this are an admirable means of stimu- 
lating among the young Americana of to-day interest in 
the story of their pioneer ancestors and the early days of 
the Republic.” — Boston Globe. 

THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES; 

Or, On the Trail op the Iroquois. 

The recital of the^ daring deeds of the frontier is not 
only interesting but instructive as well and shows the 
sterling type of character which these days of self-reliance 
and trial produced.” — American Tourist, Chicago, 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI; 

On, The Homestead in the Wilderness. 

“The story is told with spirit, and is full of adven- 
ture.” — New York Sun. 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI; 

Or, In the Country of the Sioux. 

“ Vivid in style, vigorous in movement, full of dramatic 
situations, true to historic perspective, this story is a 
capital one for boys.” — Watchman Examiner, New York 
City. 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOW- 
STONE j Ob, Lost IN THE Land of Wonders. 
“There is plenty of lively adventure and action and 
the story is well told.” — Duluth Herald, Duluth, Minn. 

' THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA; 

Or, In the Wilderness of the Great Northwest. 
“The story is full of spirited action and contains much 
valuable historical information.” — Boston h erald, 

A— 3 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE HADLEY HALL SERIES 

By Louise M. Breitenbach 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume $1.65 

ALMA AT HADLEY HALL 

“ The author is to be congratulated on having written 
such an appealing book for girls.” — Detroit Free Press. 

ALMA’S SOPHOMORE YEAR 

“ It cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things 
in girls’ books.” — Boston Herald. 

ALMA’S JUNIOR YEAR 

“ The diverse characters in the boarding-school are 
strongly drawn, the incidents are well developed and the 
action is never dull.” — The Boston Herald. 

ALMA’S SENIOR YEAR 

“ A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every 
chapter,” — Boston Transcript. 


THE GIRLS OF 
FRIENDLY TERRACE SERIES 

By Harriet Lummis Smith 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume ....... $1.65 

THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE 

“ A book sure to please girl readers, for the author 
seems to understand perfectly the girl character.” — 
Boston Globe. 

PEGGY RAYMOND’S VACATION 

“ It is a wholesome, hearty story.” — Utica Observer. 

PEGGY RAYMOND’S SCHOOL DAYS 

The book is delightfully written, and contains lots of 
exciting incidents. 

THE FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE 

These four lively girls found their opportunities to 
serve their country. The story of their adventures will 
bring anew to every girl who reads about them the reali- 
zation of what she owes to her country. 

A — 3 


PA&E COMP ANTS 


FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES 

> By Charles H. L. JoHNSTt>x 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume ....... $2.0Q 

FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS 

“ More of such books should be written, books that 
acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
pleasant, informal way.” — New York Sun, 

FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS 

“ Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, 
and his relation of battles, sieges and strr^vles of these 
famous Indians with the whites for the > ession of 
America is a worthy addition to United St es History.” 
— New York Marine Journal. 

FAMOUS SCOUTS 

“ It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascina- 
tion for boys and young men.” — New London Day. 

FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVEN- 
TURERS OF THE SEA 

“The tales are more than merely interesting; they are 
entrancing, stirring the blood with thrilling force.” — 
Pittsburgh Post. 

FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF 
THE BORDER 

“ The accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly 
readable, making a book of wide appeal to all who love 
the history of actual adventure.” — Cleveland Leader. 

FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS 
OF AMERICA 

“ The book is an epitome of some of the wildest and 
bravest adventures of which the world has known.” — 
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 

FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR 

Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glo- 
rious Victory. 

“The pages of this book have the charm of romance 
without its unreality. The book illuminates, with life- 
like portraits, the history of the World War.” — Roches^ 
ter Post Express. 

A — 4 



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